Good Night
by Erendyce
Summary: When a training camp with all the GoM high schools turns into a game of hide-and-seek. The rule? The first one who finds Kuroko gets to spend an entire night with him. Let the game start! Various pairings, not a Kuroko harem though.
1. Night 0: The beginning of the end

**A/N: I'm baaaaaack. And still as obsessed with KnB as ever. Yup. This fic idea came while talking to someone while I was making a Kuroko amigurumi. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The beginning of the end**

The bus stopped in front of a small building, at the edge of a forest. The door opened to let a line of high school students out, more or less quietly. As his foot touched the ground, Kagami gave a broad look around, taking in the view unfolded before his eyes. The forest spread to nearby hills and past them, sometimes scarce, sometimes thick, making the terrain uneven and perfect for running. Above his head, the few white clouds could hardly veil the bright sun that made Kagami wince as he looked at it. He wasn't sure whether to rejoice about the weather or not; on one side the forecast didn't announce any rain for the entire week, but on the other side it meant that it was going to be quite hot at the training camp. Well, never mind that. They were here to train, not to complain.

"Hey, if you're done daydreaming, move aside. You're blocking the way, Bakagami." an annoying voice drawled behind him.

"Don't call me that, Ahomine!" Kagami snapped back, glaring at the Touou ace who pretended not to see him.

"Now there, don't start fighting when we just arrived." Kiyoshi grinned as he stepped down the bus right behind Aomine.

"What do you mean, 'start'? They've been at it for the whole trip." Hyuuga grunted.

"Well, it put some animation in the bus!" Takao joined in as he hopped down the bus after the Seirin captain. "Right, Shin-chan?"

"I don't have the same definition of 'animation' as you, it seems." Midorima stated with his usual frown, following his teammate. "To me that was sheer annoyance. And why are you holding my arm, Takao?"

"Hm? Because I like it?" the Shuutoku point guard answered innocently.

"Tch, you're quite the annoyance too."

"Come on, stop complaining! We're going to spend an exciting week all together!" Momoi gave a strong pat on Midorima's shoulder. The latter glanced at her:

"Tell me once again what you're doing here, Momoi." he said.

"Obviously I'm here to help the other coaches come up with a perfect training program for you all! Organizing such a camp with all the Generation of Miracles teams was such an excellent idea! Oh look, those are the buses from Kanagawa and Kyoto! So Ki-chan and Aka-chan are already here!"

A bit farther away, the newcomers had gathered in front of the building, sport bags on their shoulders.

"So that's where we'll be accommodated, huh? Not too shabby." Imayoshi commented, examining the two-storey inn. It looked no different from the other places where he had had training camps, except that this one had an outside basketball court. It apparently also had bigger hot baths. Well, it was good thing given that the basketball teams from six different schools were going to camp there. The last thing Imayoshi wanted was to be cramped in the hot baths.

"Alright! Let's get our rooms so we can drop our stuff and start practicing." Kagami said as he started stepping forward, but a small hand grabbed him by the sleeve.

"Kagami-kun, please don't be so hasty. We should wait for our coaches to take care of the rooms." Kuroko said, making the redhead jump.

"Kuroko! Stop popping up out of nowhere like that!"

"I was here the whole time." came the usual, calm answer. Next to them, Aomine snorted.

"I swear your misdirection can be a pain, sometimes." Kagami muttered. "Anyway, what are we waiting for? Kaijou and Rakuzan are here already."

"So there's only Yosen left." Aomine said before turning to a teammate next to him. "Hey Sakurai, gimme food. I'm fucking hungry."

"Y-Yes, right away! I'm sorry you are hungry! I'm really sorry!" the blonde boy hurriedly produced a box of cookies from his bag and put it into Aomine's lazily extended hand.

"Aomine-kun, you shouldn't terrify your teammates like that. It isn't healthy for your teamwork."

"Hah? Who's terrifying here? And don't give me lessons, Tetsu, you know I hate them."

"Doesn't mean you don't need them." Kagami smirked.

"What did you say?" Aomine asked slowly, but he wasn't given the leisure to further his threat as a loud, cheerful voice cut them in:

"Aominechiiiiii! You're finally here! Oh, and Kurokochi, Midorimacchi and Kagamicchi too!"

"What's with the 'too?'" Kagami mumbled. "We all arrived together."

Yellow flashed past his eyes in Aomine's direction. The next second, the Touou ace was suffering suffocation from Kise's strong hug.

"Wh-Kise! What the fuck are you doing?! Let go of me!"

"You know, I asked our coach if we could go in the same bus as you, since Tokyo isn't that far after all. I wanted to do the trip with you!" the Kaijou ace whined, only to have his head hit on by Kasamatsu. The captain dragged him away and bowed slightly to Aomine as an apology for Kise's childish behaviour.

"By the way, I don't see Akashi or any of the other Rakuzan." Kagami noted as he looked around. "Where are they?"

"Oh, they're–" Kise started before freezing on the spot as he heard an all too familiar voice rise behind him:

"Ryouta, what's with all this commotion?"

At the entrance of the inn, arms crossed, was standing the Emperor – namely Akashi Seijuurou. The Uncrowned Kings were there as well, with Mibuchi winking at Hyuuga who immediately turned away, hardly hiding an expression of disgust. Akashi's heterochromatic eyes landed on Kuroko.

"Tetsuya, Daiki, Shintarou. You've come." he stated coolly. "Atsushi should be there soon as well. I'm looking forward to this training camp." he added, and somehow, despite the hot temperature, everyone there felt a sudden chill run down their spine.

With the Emperor here, they were going to suffer, and not just a bit.

* * *

Though they had just arrived, the coaches from the six high schools showed no mercy to the basketball players for their first afternoon at the training camp. The program had started with a classical cops-and-robbers game – an idea suggested by Riko – with teams made randomly. The game lasted for two long hours of running up and down the hills in the forest before the coaches called for a break. It was welcomed with open arms by the sweat-drenched and out-of-breath players. However, those who believed they'd be allowed a short snack time saw their hopes crushed ever so quickly when Masako Araki announced they were going to have short basketball matches in the form of a small tournament. This naturally stirred up some excitement among the players.

"Finally! We get to play basketball!" Kagami exclaimed, not caring the least bit that his body was screaming for rest. "We're gonna beat the crap out of everyone! Right, Kuroko? Kuroko? Hey, what's wrong?!"

To no one's great surprise, Kuroko was sprawled on the ground, face down, looking dead.

"Sheesh, his stamina still sucks big time, I see." Aomine commented as he crouched down to poke at the lying figure. The gesture irked Kagami, for some reason.

"Hey, don't touch him like that." he said, pulling Kuroko up on his feet and slipping an arm around his back for support. "Kuroko, are you OK?"

The latter opened his eyes with some difficulty.

"I'm fine, Kagami-kun." he replied, though the way he was leaning against Kagami's arm pretty much showed the opposite.

"You should take a break, Kurokocchi." Kise insisted with obvious concern.

"Kuroko, do you want to rest a bit?" Riko inquired.

"I'm fine." the blue-haired boy repeated. "I came here to train; I can't rest while everyone else is working hard."

"Excellent! That's what I wanted to hear." the Seirin coach clapped her hands. "Then let's get on with the tournament rules." she added, turning to Masako who nodded then cleared her throat.

"The winner team doesn't get anything but the losers will have to run to the town down the road and back here. For your information, the total distance is roughly ten kilometres, and you don't get to eat before you're done. We'll have tournaments like this every afternoon, and every day we'll increase the distance you'll have to run if you lose." the Yosen coach declared, one hand on her bamboo stick that was planted on the ground next to her.

"Does she often hit you with her stick?" Kagami asked Himuro in a low voice.

"Usually it's only Atsushi, when he eats too many sweets during practice." the latter whispered back. Next to them, Murasakibara gave them a quick glance before focusing back on the bag of sweets in his hands.

"Scary woman."

"I'd say, not as much as your coach. I heard her slaps are quite… powerful."

"Don't remind me." Kagami muttered before grinning: "Anyway, get ready to be crushed, Tatsuya."

"Don't cry later when you have to run while we get to eat." Himuro countered, smiling.

Unfortunately for both of them, it went without saying that Rakuzan completely annihilated the other teams – and without much effort, to add salt to the injury. Riko blew the whistle for the last time of the day, announcing the Kyoto team's complete victory.

"Too bad for you all." Hayama snickered. "Have fun running."

"Don't tease them too much." Mibuchi patted his teammate's shoulder. "Remember they all fought bravely." he added with a hint of emotion in his voice. "But hey, that also means we get the hot baths just for us!"

"It's not like anyone can actually beat us!" Nebuya boasted proudly, both fists on his hips.

"We'll freaking beat you up next time!" Kagami and Aomine countered in unison, before glaring at each other.

"Hey, don't steal my words, Bakagami."

"Right back at you, Ahomine."

"All right, all right!" Momoi intervened. "Don't start an argument here and get ready to run!" she added happily.

"Dammit Satsuki, gimme a break." Aomine grunted.

"Well at least it's only ten kilometres today." Takao said optimistically.

"But that's not fair! Everyone knows Akashicchi's team is insanely strong!" Kise complained. "Not even Seirin managed to beat them. And it's already 8 pm, I'm hungry!"

"Stop talking and run!" the Yosen coach shouted, making everyone jump. "That is, unless you don't want to have dinner."

"Scary, I tell you." Kagami muttered to Himuro as he started running, along with the whole group.

* * *

At 11 pm, each team was in their respective rooms – the girls in a separate one – and ready to go sleep after quite an exhausting day. In the Seirin room, Kagami stretched his arms and yawned loudly.

"Damn Akashi and his Emperor's eye. A bit more and we could have made them eat dust." he said.

"I'm not sure what you call 'a bit', but yeah, he's definitely the annoying one here. Man, if the next days are going to be like this, I'll be dead before long." Izuki sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if Akashi's even human. He looks more like a demon to me."

"C-could you please stop saying his name? It gives me the chills." Furihata shivered on his futon.

"You're unlucky he seems to have taken an interest in you, then." Koganei said.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Ah? You didn't notice? He kept staring at you during our matches with Yosen and Shuutoku. I thought he wanted you dead or something."

"Stop scaring him like that, Koga. Look, he's white as a ghost." Izuki laughed. "But I have to admit that Hayama annoys me to no end, too." he added.

"Tomorrow I'll definitely crush that she-male." Hyuuga joined the anti-Rakuzan league.

"Well, we had fun, that's what matters!" came Kiyoshi's usual answer.

"As expected, playing against the Uncrowned Kings is a real pain. Right, Mitobe?" Koganei asked his neighbour who merely nodded.

"Everyone here makes it sound like Rakuzan is our only opponent." Kuroko's soft voice joined the talk.

"Well, they _are_ the most annoying bunch of all." Kagami retorted.

"Then I suggest we all go sleep now so that we aren't too tired tomorrow. We have to wake up at 7." Kuroko reminded.

Upon everyone's approval, lights were switched off to welcome the first night of the training camp.

* * *

The next day was, to put it simply, close to what one could call hell. The six coaches plus Momoi had come up with different programs for each player, depending on what they needed to improve the most. That included basic running, swimming in the river, tree-climbing, as well as ball exercises. The required physical effort was one thing, but the scorching heat of the cloudless day put even more toll on everyone; no one was complaining, though. In fact, it was rather the opposite. The competiveness that existed between the schools was an excellent incentive enough to prompt them to do better than their opponents. Needless to say, the war between Aomine and Kagami was particularly tough, even with Kuroko and Kise in-between to cool them down.

Lunch break soon arrived like salvation for all the growling stomachs. After making sure the meals hadn't been prepared by either Riko or Momoi, the high-schoolers found themselves eating by a large table set just outside the building.

"I'm looking forward to the tournament this afternoon." Takao commented as he started gulfing down his meal. "You think Seirin will get to play Touou today? I'd like to see a rematch of Kagami versus Aomine."

"I suppose it's a possibility." Midorima answered. "Though those two are overdoing it." he added, glancing sideways at Kagami and Aomine.

"It's actually nice to see Dai-chan like this." Momoi said. "I'm really glad he found someone who could make him enjoy playing again."

"Do you know the match-ups for today's tournament?" Takao asked, but the pink-haired girl merely smiled.

"Hm? The match-ups? Teehee! We have a surprise for you all!" Momoi said mysteriously. "But I'll let you find out when the time comes!"

"Oh come on, tell us!"

"Yeah, I wanna know too!" Miyaji joined in.

"I have to admit I'm curious as well." Imayoshi nodded.

"You won't get anything from me!" Momoi grinned, much to the others' disappointment.

It was only when afternoon came and everyone was gathered that the coaches announced the news.

"There was a change of plans." Harasawa declared, his usual stern face on. Even now, the Touou coach was the only one dressed in full suit, as if insensitive to the heat. "It was observed by several of you that the tournament system wasn't perhaps the fairest way to compete, given the... better aptitudes of some of you here, especially with such short matches." He was polite enough not to look at the Rakuzan team. "That is why a new idea was suggested." He cleared his throat. "From now on, you will have a game of hide-and-seek every afternoon."

Unsurprisingly, the last sentence resulted in cocked eyebrows and round eyes. Fukui raised his hand:

"As dumb as this may sound, but when you say 'hide-and-seek', you do mean that game where people hide and other people find them?" he asked. His coach Masako nodded.

"There is a twist, however." she said. "Only one person will get to hide, and the rest of you will have to find him."

"And the person who'll have to hide is Kuroko!" Riko continued happily. "It will be an excellent training for you all."

"How so?" Hyuuga inquired, dubious.

"For Kuroko, it'll test his ability to use misdirection for an extended amount of time." Riko answered.

"And for the rest of you, it'll be a race!" Momoi continued. "The first one who catches Tet-chan wins!"

"Who the fuck came up with that stupid idea?" Aomine asked.

"I did." a familiar voice rose calmly next to him. Turning to its owner, Aomine grunted:

"Ah. Akashi."

The latter gazed at the Touou ace, eyes undecipherable. Around him, the other players were wondering whether it was time to take cover or not. However, Akashi merely walked forward to stand facing the small crowd of players, and it was with a composed voice that he spoke:

"As this is a training camp for all of us, I believe we should practice in the fairest way possible for everyone. A hide-and-seek game will not penalize anyone, as it was pointed out earlier. And if you need an incentive, I think it would not hurt to add a reward for the first person who manages to find Tetsuya." he declared, not even asking for the coaches' opinion. "Therefore I decree that the winner will be able to spend the full night with Tetsuya. What you do with him is up to you."

"WHAAAAAT?!" Momoi exclaimed out loud. She wasn't the only one. The last sentence triggered a hubbub of various reactions, globally oriented towards sheer incredulity. Even the coaches looked completely dumbfounded, and Riko was waving her arms everywhere while protesting something unintelligible.

"What the fuck do you mean, Akashi?"

"Akashicchi, isn't that a bit too much?"

"Hey Akashi! Who the hell gave you the right to decide whatever you want with our Kuroko?" Kagami snarled.

"Since when is he 'our' Kuroko?" Izuki whispered at his captain who merely shrugged.

"Kuro-chin, you'd better hide well, then." Murasakibara stated plainly, not seeming to find anything strange here.

"Atsushi... don't tell me that's all you have to say." Himuro sweatdropped.

Curiously enough, the main character involved – namely Kuroko – remained silent. Noticing it, Kagami turned to him, frowning:

"Hey, aren't you gonna say something?"

"There isn't much for me to say, Kagami-kun." Kuroko replied quietly. "It has already been decided."

"Decided? It's just that damn Akashi who spouted nonsense!"

"Kagami-kun, have you forgotten? Akashi-kun's–"

" –words are absolute." Akashi finished, emitting a overpowering aura of domination around him. That, and his blazing heterochromatic eyes were enough to make everyone shut up. Only Liu was brave enough to speak again:

"What if we aren't interested in the reward?" he asked, expressionless as ever.

"The punishment for the losers remains the same as for the tournament." Akashi replied. "Running and no eating until you're done."

"Geez, I still think this is fucked up." Aomine scratched his head, but a mere gaze from the Rakuzan captain was enough to turn him silent and scowling.

"My words are absolute." Akashi declared, and no one dared challenge him.

And thus, on that joyous note, the battle to catch Kuroko started.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Tadaa! Yeah, the idea really came out of nowhere while I was crocheting lil' Kuroko. Opinions? :]**


	2. Night 1: Lucky Star

**A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews! I didn't expect so many people to like the first chapter :] It was funny reading them, with some of you wanting a harem and some not wanting it haha. But I'll stick to my original idea = not a harem. Hopefully you'll still like what comes next!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Lucky Star**

"The game will last two hours or until Kuroko is found. Kuroko, you have three minutes to hide." Riko explained, moderately enthusiastic. As much as she liked the idea of hide-and-seek, the reward part left her quite mitigated. "Use your misdirection wisely if you don't want to end up like a corpse." she advised the Phantom Player who nodded.

She then produced a stopwatch from her pocket and blew her whistle a first time, giving the signal for Kuroko to go and hide. A bit farther away, Momoi was crouched at a corner of the inn, an impressive aura of gloom and depression emanating from her. Her mouth was mumbling words that sounded like "My Tetsu" accompanied with curses and jinxes to all the other players who would dare touch him.

Next to Riko, the other coaches were displaying faces that clearly said they didn't care anymore. On the other side, the players didn't look less perplexed. Opinions on the game were mixed.

"This is still fucked up." Aomine grunted. "I guess I'll catch Tetsu just so I don't have to run." he added with a yawn.

"And what exactly are you going to do with him if you catch him?" Kise inquired, his tone suddenly growing suspicious.

"Nothing! Why the hell are you looking at me like that? I just said it's because I don't wanna run." the Touou ace defended himself, but Kise was still glaring at him, eyes narrowed in sheer incredulity.

Mibuchi elbowed his neighbour Nebuya and whispered:

"Hey, I was thinking about something. Maybe Sei-chan suggested the game because he wants to get his hands on Kuroko. What do you think?"

The Rakuzan centre's eyes opened wide in shock. "Seriously?! Our captain–" But Mibuchi quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

"Shhh! Not so loud!" he said, glancing at Akashi. Either the latter hadn't heard them, or he didn't care about such futilities, for he didn't even bother paying them any attention.

"Damn, even though he's in our team, I still can't get used to Kuroko's misdirection." Hyuuga mumbled as he stretched his legs.

"I've stopped counting the number of times we couldn't see him even without his misdirection." Koganei added. "Man, this is going to be a real pain. We had a higher chance of winning with the tournament."

"It's not what you said yesterday." Izuki reminded him.

"If they want us to run, they can just say so instead of making up stupid games with stupid rules." Hyuuga went on. He turned his head as someone patted his shoulder:

"Hey, is Kagami all right?" Takao asked, pointing at the power forward with his thumb.

The latter was standing with both fists clenched, eyes ablaze with rare determination and staring at the entrance of the forest as if he hoped to set fire to it. For an instant, Hyuuga could have sworn he saw flames flaring around Kagami. Around him, it seemed that the other players were keeping a safe distance from him, probably for fear of being burnt to a crisp.

"Does he plan to enter the Zone or something?" Aomine snickered. "If so, he can bring it on. I'll crush him."

"You're supposed to find Kuroko, not duel against Kagami." Imayoshi reminded him kindly.

"I think Kagami's on fire." Izuki joked, before sighing as no one seemed to find the pun funny.

Kiyoshi gave a strong pat on the redhead's back, surprising everyone else around. He was apparently fire-proof.

"Kagami, relax! It's going to be a fun game, so don't look so tense." he said cheerfully. His words seemed to snatch Kagami out of his trance.

"Huh, what? Oh, I'm relaxed, don't worry. I'm totally relaxed." he answered very unconvincingly. "I was just thinking that we must absolutely find Kuroko before the others."

"You know that there's only one person who'll get to catch him. All the others will have to run, even if they're on the same team as the winner."

"I'm not talking about that!" Kagami blurted out. "What's gonna happen to Kuroko if he gets caught by any other than us? That damn Akashi said they can do whatever they want with Kurok–Ouch! What did you hit me for?" he turned to Hyuuga whose fist was balled.

"Cool down a bit, Kagami." the Seirin captain ordered. "And have a bit more faith in humanity. I don't know what Akashi had in mind, but I'm quite sure most of us here don't give a damn about the reward. All we want is to be spared the running part. And if you're so worried about him, just do your best to find him first."

"I-I'm not worried about him or anything!" Kagami stuttered, suddenly blushing.

"Yeah, whatever."

The conversation was interrupted by their coach who clapped her hands twice.

"Alright everyone! Get ready to go in ten seconds!" she said, putting the whistle in her mouth. When her stopwatch indicated three minutes, she blew.

Immediately after, the small crowd of players was dispatched in the forest, leaving only the coaches and a forlorn Momoi behind.

"Let's see if the Phantom Player is up to his reputation." Harasawa commented. "By the way, I was wondering how you handle your players, Eiji. Especially Akashi."

The Rakuzan coach glanced at him. "Despite his age, he has the maturity of an experienced professional player. That is why I can trust his decisions. Though I have to admit I didn't expect this from him."

"Well, who cares now? It's done." Takeuchi shrugged. "I'll go wait for the results inside, if you don't mind. It's too hot out there." The Kaijou coach could hardly hide his abundant sweating, despite keeping fanning himself with a paper.

"Good idea, I can do with some refreshments too." Masako said as she started heading for the inn. The proposition was approved by everyone, and all the coaches went back inside, Harasawa dragging Momoi with him.

In the meantime, the high-schoolers were frantically searching every bush, every tree, every rock in the forest. The place was big and even with their number, the task proved tedious. Morning training had tired out most players, which resulted in a drop of pace as they roamed the entire area. The differences in ground level were quickening the exhaustion, and yet no one was giving up, for most of them remembered the trial of having to run on a cruelly empty stomach. Murasakibara had expressed the will to quit at some point, stating that he was too lazy to go on; Himuro's promise to buy him sweets kept him going.

Some had chosen to hunt Kuroko in small groups, others preferred carrying out the search on their own; there was no real strategy. Aomine would have liked to be part of the latter, unfortunately a certain person kept sticking to him.

"Aominecchi, not so fast!" Kise called after him, out of breath.

"Tch, why the hell are you following me?" Aomine snapped, though he slowed down his pace anyway.

"Because you know Kurokocchi better! You may be able to find him even with his misdirection."

"And you wanna steal him from me right under my nose?" the Touou ace retorted back, pissed off. The last sentence made Kise twitch and furrow his brows.

"Aominecchi... What do you mean by 'steal him from you'?"

"Huh? Obviously, exactly what I said." Aomine replied, oblivious to Kise's pout. "There's no way I'm gonna let you get him before me. Got enough running for today, and I'm damn hungry already."

"So you really aren't interested in... the reward?" Kise inquired with caution. Aomine almost tripped at the question.

"Idiot! Of course not! Damn it, what's wrong with your brain?" he muttered. Kise blinked at those words, then smiled.

"OK! Then let's find him!" he decreed happily.

Time passed until there was only half an hour left in the countdown, and there was still no sign of Kuroko. Half the players had already given up after spending the late afternoon climbing on trees, crawling in some unlikely areas and even swimming in the river. It wasn't a rare occurrence to find a teammate sprawled on the ground and cursing Kuroko's misdirection. Liu had found Furihata hunched up by a tree, shaking and looking partly staggered. A little bit of inquiry revealed that he had crossed path with Akashi and the latter had greeted him before moving on. Just an incident among many others.

"Aaaah damn it! He wasn't that invisible during our matches!" Miyaji snarled as he put down the leaf he had picked up to see if Kuroko wasn't, by any chance, hiding under.

"Not any luck here either, huh?" Fukui sighed, red with effort and drenched in sweat. He wiped out his forehead before sitting down on a nearby rock.

"I think I'd rather have a tournament instead." the Shuutoku small forward said. "At least you have a slightly better chance at winning."

"I'm starting to think so as well. Anyway, I'm gonna head back, time's almost up. I need to prepare my legs for our little running."

It was Miyaji's turn to sigh. "Coming with you. I suppose Kuroko wins this time."

* * *

Kuroko flipped a page of the basketball magazine that Kagami had brought with him, comfortably settled at the foot of the first tree at the forest entrance, where he had been seated for almost two hours. When Riko had given the signal to find him, everyone had rushed past him without even seeing him. He could safely assert that his misdirection had worked to the perfection. A few more minutes and he could claim complete victory.

Footsteps were heard.

"Found you. Figured you'd be here." a voice said with obvious satisfaction.

Kuroko raised his eyes to the figure standing in front of him.

"Takao-kun." he replied as he stood up. Of course, that was logical. Kazunari Takao had been one of the first to see through his misdirection.

"When I scanned the entire forest with my Hawk Eye and found nothing, I deduced that you actually hadn't even entered the forest. And bingo. So, does this mean I win?"

"It seems so." Kuroko nodded. "Congratulations."

The point guard made a sign of victory, relieved, and a small tear could be seen at the corner of his eye as he said:

"I can eat early today."

* * *

Evening passed in a rather peculiar fashion; Takao was congratulated by the coaches while Momoi cast death glares at him and Izuki wept on Hyuuga's shoulder asking why he only had the Eagle Eye. As for the other players, they merely took it like any other defeat. There were some comments about how Akashi had been expected to be the winner but the latter didn't seem to be much bothered by them.

The same couldn't be said for Kagami. At sleep time, he was pacing back and forth nervously in the Seirin room, much to his teammates annoyance. On the other side, Kuroko was calmly picking up his stuff and shoving them into his bag, to move them to a separate room that had been prepared for the occasion. He was almost done when Kagami moved closer to him:

"Kuroko." he said, gripping Kuroko's shoulders tightly.

"What is it, Kagami-kun?"

"You don't have to do that. We can talk to the coaches, they'll understand."

"Akashi-kun's words are absolute."

"Hey, we could pay Takao to pretend he did spend the night with Kuroko." Izuki suggested.

"And you're the one who's going to pay him?" Hyuuga sneered before turning to Kuroko. "But seriously, absolute or not, Akashi's just a student like us. If you don't want to do it, don't do it."

"I don't mind it, Hyuuga-senpai. But thank you for your concern."

"Mitobe says that if Takao does anything suspicious to you, use your misdirection to vanish and come back here." Koganei said.

"And we'll destroy him." Kagami added dimly.

"Thank you, Kagami-kun, but I don't think you will be able to do that. The rule did state that he can do whatever he pleases. However, I doubt Takao-kun has any interest whatsoever in doing anything to me."

"I suppose you're right. Just make sure to come back in one piece." Izuki said. "Hey, did your bag just move?" he suddenly asked, frowning at Kuroko's bag.

"It did not."

"It totally did!" Kagami exclaimed, pointing at his bag. At that very same moment, a stifled 'woof!' was heard.

Silence. Then:

"Oops." Kuroko merely said.

"Don't 'oops' me! You brought it here, didn't you? You did!" Kagami had suddenly moved to the other corner of the room, looking at Kuroko's moving bag as if it was a plague carrier.

As confirmation, a black muzzle slowly poked out of the bag, followed by the rest of an all too familiar dog head.

"Oh, you brought #2 here? I thought the coach didn't want to bring him along because animals are forbidden here." Kiyoshi said.

"The dog's out of the bag." Izuki added, which earned him nothing but a look of pity from Hyuuga.

"I could not bring myself to leave him in Tokyo." Kuroko explained, holding #2 in hands so that the dog was facing his teammates. Now it wasn't one but two pairs of identically oval blue eyes that stared at them. For a second, everyone but Kagami melted at the sight.

Hyuuga pinched the bridge of his nose and clicked his tongue of annoyance.

"We'd better not let anyone else know, or we'll be kicked out of the inn for sure. That means you have to leave #2 here."

"Are you kidding?" Kagami roared. "There's no way I'm gonna sleep in the same room as this–this–this dog!"

"It's fine, Kagami. I'll let him sleep next to me." Koganei patted his shoulder.

"That's not the problem!"

"Kagami-kun, please don't be so loud or we will be spotted." Kuroko said as he released #2. The latter padded happily towards the redhead – much to his despair – and sat in front of him, tail wagging. "He likes you a lot, Kagami-kun. He is probably heartbroken that his feelings aren't mutual."

"I don't care! And he definitely doesn't look heartbroken at all!" Kagami retorted, now completely pressed against the wall and pointing a trembling finger at the dog.

"Stop shouting, Kagami." Hyuuga ordered as he picked #2 up and away from Kagami. Turning to Kuroko, he added: "You take the entire responsibility of this if the coach finds out."

To which Kuroko nodded before bowing slightly and excusing himself. As he slid the door shut behind him, Kagami punched the wall:

"Damn it, tomorrow I'll find him for sure." he muttered.

* * *

_Shuutoku's room_

"Takao."

"What is it, Shin-chan?"

"If tomorrow, Kuroko reports that you did something that stained Shuutoku's name, I'll put a curse on you."

"Hmmm? Could you by any chance be jealous, Shin-chan?" Takao teased.

"I'm not." the shooting guard answered dryly and a bit too quickly.

"Midorima has a point, though. You'd better behave, Takao." Ootsubo nodded.

"Hey, hey, you guys... Please have a bit more faith in me." Takao said, twitching. "I do have plans with Kuroko anyway, but they're definitely _not_ what you're thinking. Whatever you're thinking. In any case, good night everyone!" he said, leaving the room before any of his teammate could answer anything.

* * *

When Takao slid the door of Kuroko's – or rather, _their_ – room open, he found the blue-haired teen already on his futon, reading a magazine. A pair of oval-shaped eyes rose to him, staring at him in their usual way.

"Good evening, Takao-kun."

"Hey there." Takao greeted back before giving the room a quick look. It was quite large for a supposedly two-person room, and he noticed the inn keeper had had the delicacy to place two futon. He dropped his bag next to the empty one. "Mind if I get changed here?"

"Please go ahead." Kuroko replied, turning his attention back to the magazine.

'_Well, this is more awkward than I imagined.'_ Takao thought as he discarded his shirt. There was no AC in the room and though the window was open, it was hot enough for Takao to consider remaining bare chest, but Kuroko could get the wrong idea and it was definitely the last thing he wanted.

In the meantime, and all naturally, several high-schoolers were packed in the corridor outside the room, trying to listen to what was happening inside. The only source of light was coming from the moon rays through the large windows, making it hard for anyone to identify who the curious ones were. Kise's ear was stuck to the panel, frowning in an effort to try and hear something. Fukui and Moriyama were in the exact same position as him.

"I can only hear half the words." Moriyama whispered.

"Same here. Damn it, this sucks." Fukui nodded.

"If something happens to Kurokocchi, we should hear him scream." Kise said. "And if he does, I'll destroy Takaocchi." he added, his face turning uncharacteristically frightening.

Behind them, Aomine scratched his head with obvious boredom.

"Oi, Kise. Why the fuck did you bring me here?" he grunted.

"Not so loud, Aominecchi!" Kise whispered. "What if they hear us?"

"See if I care."

"Aren't you worried about Kurokocchi? What if Takaocchi assaults him?"

"Don't compare Takao to you, Kise." Midorima snapped, eliciting a very Kise-like pout.

"But the fact you're here means that you want to keep an eye on him too." he argued back.

The Shuutoku shooting guard adjusted his glasses on his nose. "I had no such intentions. I happened to have a night walk around here and seeing all of you here, I decided to stop by to make sure you didn't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, sure." Aomine snorted.

"Could you guys keep it down? They're really gonna hear us like this." Fukui intervened.

"Tch. Anyway, I'm out of here. Have fun or whatever." the Touou power forward yawned before sauntering away.

"Aominecc-hmph!" Moriyama's hand covered Kise's mouth and put an index over his own, motioning him to stay silent. Each one of them was ready to sprint away and hide in case they were heard, but the precaution proved unnecessary as no one went to open the door.

Inside the room, Takao was done getting changed.

"So, what do you wanna do to kill time?" he finally asked as he sat down on his own futon.

"You are the one who is supposed to tell me what you do, according to the rule." Kuroko replied with his usual flat tone.

"Excellent. Then I'd like you to tell me more about Shin-chan." Takao grinned.

"That is an unexpected requested." Kuroko closed his magazine, looking pointedly at the Shuutoku player.

"Well, my teammates threatened to behead me if I did anything suspicious to you."

"I see."

"Though let me add that I wouldn't have done anything suspicious anyway. Sorry Kuroko, but there's already someone else I'm interested in." Takao winked, not embarrassed at all by his own confession. "So, about Shin-chan?"

"Takao-kun, you are being too obvious."

"Hm? Well, I don't think you're the kind of guy who'd go and repeat that everywhere. So, tell me everything you know about Shin-chan."

"Please be more specific."

"Hmmmm let's see… How was he in middle school? Any fun story about him?"

On the other side of the door, the three eavesdroppers were trying their best to catch pieces of the conversation.

"Damn it, I can hear Takao quite well, but Kuroko's another story." Fukui muttered. "As if having a ghostly presence isn't enough, he had to have a ghostly voice as well."

"Midorimacchi, come here and help us a bit!" Kise prompted him.

"I can't see how my coming there will help you. This is ridiculous. I'll go back and sleep. Enjoy your spying activities." he said as he took a step away, but what Moriyama said next made him twitch:

"Too bad for you. They've just started talking about you."

One glance at Midorima was enough to notice the obvious inner conflict breaking out within him. After three seconds of silence, he finally spoke with dignity:

"I assume it will not hurt to stay here longer. I have to make sure Takao doesn't spout ridiculous things about me." he said, approaching the panel.

Inside the room, the conversation was going on, unaware of the intruders outside.

"Midorima-kun was no different from now. And there is nothing particularly fun about him." Kuroko replied plainly.

"You're not helping."

"I am sorry. Midorima-kun and I weren't the closest ones. We are only acquaintances." The blue-haired teen seemed to think for a second. "There is an anecdote, but I am not certain it could be qualified as fun."

"Let's hear it then!"

"It was during practice. Midorima-kun was throwing threes and Kise-kun was trying to copy Aomine-kun's formless shots. The ball's trajectory wasn't quite the expected one."

"Let me guess: it flew right in Shin-chan's face."

"It actually hit the back of his head and made his glasses fall on the floor. Since he couldn't see, he stepped on them."

Takao laughed. "Didn't he have his lucky item on that day?"

Kuroko nodded. "He did. But he mentioned that Cancers were ranked last on that day."

"What happened afterwards?"

"His lucky item was a kitchen knife. A sharpened one." Kuroko said, giving Takao a meaningful look. The latter opened his eyes wide.

"W-Wait, don't tell me Shin-chan..."

"I was joking, Takao-kun." The latter let out a sigh of relief.

"You got me for a second. Though I could never imagine my Shin-chan turning violent. So, what really happened?"

"Akashi-kun ordered Kise-kun to run ten extra laps around the school. Midorima-kun tripped on a ball when he walked to the bench for spare glasses."

"Seriously?" Takao burst out laughing. "I just can't imagine Shin-chan _tripping_ of all things. That's so uncool! You have other stories like that?"

"I'm afraid not."

Takao scratched his head. "Damn, and here I thought you'd be able to tell me some useful stuff. You know, with his birthday coming soon and all, I was hoping you could help me get him a present."

"I see. Midorima-kun likes Oha Asa's horoscopes." Kuroko stated as if it was something unheard of.

"I thought about it too, but I can't get him his lucky item in advance. And I don't think Shin-chan's the type of guy who'd appreciate a poster of Oha Asa."

"Would you like me to ask him?" Kuroko offered, earning a short laugh from the black-haired teen.

"Definitely not. Knowing Shin-chan, he'd totally get suspicious. Maybe I should ask Momoi. She seems to have a ridiculously well-informed database on all of us."

Kuroko seemed to ponder the idea for a moment before speaking again:

"During middle school, I remember Momoi-san saying that the best present to someone you love is to ask them out. You could try the same."

If Takao had been drinking, he'd have probably spat everything out. Instead, he burst out laughing while patting Kuroko's shoulder.

"You're too blunt for your own good, Kuroko!" he said, chuckling. "I doubt he'd find it a nice present to be asked out by someone, and even so, I don't remember every admitting anything about loving anyone."

"As I mentioned before, Takao-kun, you are too obvious." Kuroko answered, unfazed.

"Alright, alright. You got me. I wasn't really hiding it either. Geez, of all people, I had to pick the most stuck up guy of the planet and whose interest probably only lies in collecting weird items."

"I am quite certain you are mistaken about Midorima-kun." Kuroko retorted politely.

"Well, obviously he likes basketball too." Takao said nonchalantly as he searched his bag for a bottle of water. "Hm? What the hell is this thing?" he muttered, producing a small bear figurine with a red ribbon, a blue cap and a small bell around its neck.

"I assume this is the proof that Midorima-kun isn't as indifferent to you as you may believe." Kuroko replied.

Takao cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Shin-chan probably dropped this by mistake in my bag."

"Takao-kun, I am sorry, but it seems your mind isn't as sharp as your eyes." Kuroko went on, face impassive. Somehow it stressed his point even more and made Takao twitch ever so lightly.

"Then enlighten me?"

"Today's Cancer's lucky item is an incense stick."

"I didn't know you also read Oha Asa's horoscopes."

"I heard it this morning on the radio during breakfast. Would you mind taking a guess what Scorpio's item is?"

"Don't tell me it's a bear figurine." he said half-serious, half-joking.

"More exactly, it is a bear figurine with a red ribbon, a blue cap and a bell."

Takao stared silently at Kuroko for a few seconds, as the pieces slowly fell back together in his mind. The point guard's expression turned to sheer incredulity. "That woman's either insane or a fraud. How the hell are you supposed to find something that specific?"

"It seems Midorima-kun managed to, somehow."

"When did he even find the time to get that? We were training the entire day."

"There was a half-an-hour break after lunch. The town isn't that far from here if you run."

Takao snorted. "There's no way Shin-chan would go through such troubles for me. Though now that you mention it, I didn't see him after lunch. When I asked him, he just told me he had gone back to our room for some peace and quiet." He crossed his arms, pondering for a while before chuckling. "I've known Shin-chan to be a tsundere for some time, but now I get actual evidence, hm? So this means I can still hope a bit, right?" he said, more to himself than as an actual question, holding the bear figurine in his hands. "Hey, I just thought of something. Maybe I managed to catch you because of this thing."

"That is a possibility. Though I do believe your Hawk Eye is a better explanation."

"Probably. That means I get to catch you every day."

"I would not do that if I were you."

"Hm? Why?"

"Midorima-kun may start suspecting something."

"Even if he were jealous, he's too stuck-up and proud to even admit it!" Takao laughed. "Not to mention clueless. He doesn't seem to realize that everything I do for him isn't only because I lose to rock-paper-scissors." He sighed. "Maybe I should really ask him out, but even then I'm not sure he'll get it. Oh! How about I ask him to directly marry me?"

"I think that is what people commonly call 'skipping a few steps'." Kuroko answered honestly.

"I was kidding, Kuroko. Besides, if anything, I'd prefer it if he was the one asking."

"Why?"

"Dunno, maybe because he's taller or some crap like that."

Outside the room, Kise, Fukui and Moriyama were giving Midorima funny looks, snickering and smirking while the Shuutoku player was going through an impressive choice of reds. With a small cough, he excused himself, pretending that it was more than time for him to go sleep.

"He's totally not funny at all." Fukui murmured.

"The fact that someone can actually like Midorima is cracking me up." Moriyama addressed Kise. "From what I heard from you and what I saw, he's a completely insufferable guy."

"Oh, he has his nice moments." the blonde player commented.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door:

"You can actually act pretty girly, Takao-kun."

At those words, Takao cocked an eyebrow, then a hawk-like smirk loomed on the point guard's lips and his face turned darker as he shifted closer to Kuroko and lifted his chin with one hand.

"Be careful of what you say, Kuroko." he warned dangerously, his piercing eyes staring straight into Kuroko's. "You wouldn't want me to show you the real me, would you?" he said, leaving only a few inches between their faces. "I could do many things to you tonight that'll make you swallow back your words, pretty little Kuroko. After all, it's within the rules."

At that instant, in the corridor, flames danced in Kise's eyes as the model prepared to burst the door open. By a formidable twist of misfortune, it was at that very moment that a terrifyingly familiar voice rose behind him:

"Ryouta, what exactly are you doing?"

Suddenly, the flames in Kise's eyes died out, leaving him instead frozen on the spot. Fukui and Moriyama were in a more or less similar state. Carefully turning round, the model wore his most charming smile and stuttered very unconvincingly:

"A-Akashicchi, what a coincidence! W-We were simply walking by a-and we... we lost our way!"

The Rakuzan captain cocked an elegant eyebrow. "The three of you managed to get lost here. How unexpected."

"Haha yes, w-we're such klutz, aren't we?" Kise turned to the two other players who nodded vigorously.

"I see." Akashi replied coolly. In the dim light of the moon through the windows, his eyes looked eerily bright, giving the Emperor an even more intimidating aura than usual.

The three trespassers were trying their best to look natural and guiltless, but what they didn't expect was to hear Akashi say:

"All our rooms are in the corridor behind me, on your left. You may leave now." It sounded more like an order than a mere indication.

"Y-Yes! Right away, Akashicchi! Thank you very much, Akashicchi!" Kise bowed quickly before sprinting past Akashi, followed by Moriyama and Fukui.

When Akashi was left alone in the corridor, he glanced at the door where the three had been standing by, and a small smile painted his lips. Satisfied with himself, he turned back and headed back for the Rakuzan room.

Meanwhile, in Kuroko and Takao's room, the previous events didn't go unnoticed. Takao, still holding Kuroko's face, turned his head to the door:

"I heard noises outside."

"So did I."

Takao sighed as he released the shorter teen. "That totally busted up my little scene. Anyway, you didn't seem particularly scared."

"I believed you wouldn't do anything indecent." Kuroko replied, making Takao grin.

"You're better than my teammates! They wouldn't even trust me for that! Anyway, I had fun talking to you tonight, but I think I'm gonna hit the sack, if you don't mind."

"I was about to suggest the same."

"Excellent! Then good night, Kuroko."

"Good night, Takao-kun."

* * *

In the morning, Kuroko slid the door open to find himself facing an extremely anguished Momoi and an even more anguished Kagami. Both of them wore bags under their eyes.

"Kuroko, how are you? Is everything OK?" Momoi asked right off the bat, throwing herself in Kuroko's arms. The Phantom Player patted her back before gently prompting her away.

"I am fine, as you can see." he said, but it was Kagami's turn to shake him by the shoulders.

"Are you sure? Did he do anything to you?" he urged in a loud voice enough to stir Takao awake.

The latter shifted on his futon a bit, mumbling something about 'sleep' and 'shut up'.

"We talked a bit and then went to sleep." Kuroko explained, impassive.

"Really? That's all you did?" Kagami insisted, and as Kuroko nodded, he let out a sigh of relief and patted his baby blue hair. "Alright, then get rid of that bed head of yours and let's get breakfast!"

Unexpectedly enough, breakfast conversations hardly focused on Kuroko and Takao, probably because neither of them looked particularly different from the previous day. And the program the coaches announced was a much greater cause for worry.

* * *

Midorima seemed a bit strange today, Takao noticed. When he joyfully jumped on the Shuutoku ace's arm and thanked him for the bear figurine, he expected him to shake him off and deny everything about any potential lucky item.

Instead, Midorima merely pushed his glasses back on his nose while his cheeks took on a very, very faint shade of pink.

Just enough for Takao's trained eyes to notice.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**And here you go for chapter 2! Opinions?**


	3. N2: The only one who can kiss you is me

**A/N: And here's the third chapter! Thank you all for your reviews! I'm sorry I can't satisfy everyone when it comes to pairings and whatnot, but hopefully you'll still like the story!**

* * *

**The only one who can kiss you is me**

The third day of the training camp started with short basketball matches, to replace the cancelled tournaments. In order to make things fairer and to train the players to adapt to various playing styles, the coaches and Momoi had decided to build new teams with players from different high schools. It was how Akashi, Hyuuga, Ootsubo, Susa and Hayakawa found themselves in team A and facing team B composed of Furihata, Midorima, Kobori, Hayama and Himuro. Unsurprisingly enough, Furihata was currently as stiff as reinforced concrete.

"I'm wondering if this match-up is a good idea." Harasawa said as the match started. "Especially for the Seirin number 12. He's the team's point guard, isn't he? Meaning he'll be against Rakuzan's Akashi."

Riko turned to the Touou coach with a dazzling grin. "Don't underestimate our Furihata. He's very reliable in unexpected times."

"Provided he survives facing Akashi. And it's not starting very well." Masako noted.

When Riko turned her attention back to the court, she sweatdropped. Kobori had just tried to make a pass to Furihata, but Akashi's mere presence behind him seemed to be enough pressure to make him trip and fall headfirst in his attempt at catching the ball. There was a second of silence before the Seirin captain let out a small sigh while Koganei was stifling a chuckle – only to be glared at by Riko. Some of the other high schoolers who weren't playing gave Furihata sympathetic smiles while the others merely stared at the scene with sceptical yet amused eyes.

Furihata sat up, rubbing the back of his head with a wince and blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"Uh... Are you all right?" Kobori asked as he walked closer.

"Y-Yes, I'm very sorry about this." Furihata apologized as he took the extended hand in front of him. "Thank–" Words died in his throat with a gulp as he realized it wasn't the Kaijou centre's hand that he had just taken.

It was Akashi's.

Though the Rakuzan captain had helped him up – much to everyone's disbelief – Furihata's legs were threatening to fail him again. Seized by panic, his hand felt sweaty in Akashi's; his body was trembling uncontrollably and he could feel his heart pounding hard against his chest, especially with the Emperor's eyes gazing at him as if probing his mind's every corner. It was all he could do to remember breathing. Why had Akashi still not released his hand yet? Did he plan to tear it off his arm? Wasn't anyone going to help him? Was he going to die? He was, wasn't he?

"Kouki."

Hearing Akashi calmly call his first name sent a powerful and icy shiver down Furihata's spine. His heart stopped beating for a second; he was even certain he could feel his soul slowly escaping his mortal coil. This was the end.

"Pay attention, next time."

It took Furihata a few seconds to register the words before he opened round eyes. Perhaps it was his state of shock that made him imagine things, but Akashi had almost sounded... concerned? No, it wasn't the exact word. Akashi always spoke with a collected tone, but this time there was a hint of softness to it that left the Seirin point guard perplexed. It took him a few more seconds to recover his senses, and his cheeks turned a deeper shade of red as he realized he had been staring at the Emperor all this time. Remembering his manners, he bowed several times, rather confused:

"I'm sorry! I will! Thank you very much, Akashi-san!"

On the bench, Imayoshi cocked an eyebrow. "I'm seeing a second Sakurai here."

Next to him, said Sakurai started apologizing for being alive, much to his teammates' exasperation.

"And what's with the 'san'? They're the same age." Wakamatsu commented.

"I don't blame him for reacting like that." Kasamatsu joined in. "That Akashi guy isn't one to make you feel at ease."

"This match promises to be amusing." Imayoshi said with his usual smile.

Amusing was perhaps not the right word, but it was certainly highly entertaining and instructive for the watchers. Bets had been made on which team would win, and though odds were more in Akashi's team favours, the difference in level wasn't so obvious. Midorima and Himuro were scoring a respectable amount of points and Furihata wasn't doing a bad job at marking Akashi.

"He's a surprising one, your number 12." Shirogane admitted to Riko who grinned with pride:

"Furihata has an average stamina, that's why short matches like these are an advantage to him. He knows he can give it his all."

"I'm not certain that will be enough against Akashi, though." Masako said.

The Yosen coach was right. There was a more natural teamwork within Akashi's team – some put it on Akashi's natural ability to lead – that wasn't so obvious in team B. The end of the match gave victory to team A with an eight-point difference.

"Good job. Team B defended themselves better that I thought, though." Izuki commented, handing a towel to Hyuuga.

"Yeah, it was tough dealing with two scoring-monsters at the same time."

"How was it? Playing in the same team as Akashi, I mean." Koganei inquired, making Hyuuga look annoyed.

"I'm not sure how to put it. It's one thing when you're facing him as your opponent, but having to actually play in the same team as him is kind of... weird. It's almost creepy how well he adapted to our playing styles to build his strategies. When he passed to me, it felt like he's been passing to me forever." he said, watching his hand as he flexed his fingers.

"Akashi-kun is naturally gifted to see our potential." Kuroko explained. "It was thanks to him that I was able to specialize in passes."

Next to him, Furihata collapsed on the bench, sweating and out of breath. Kiyoshi gave him a strong pat on the back.

"You did very well. You even managed to stop Akashi's defence several times!"

"Yeah, you were great, Furihata!" Koganei nodded, "and Mitobe says he agrees with me."

"I still wasn't able to stop him completely in the end. He's not human." Furihata replied as he wiped his forehead with the towel Mitobe had handed him.

In the Shuutoku corner, it was Takao who gave Midorima a bottle of water. The latter took it silently but gratefully.

"Don't brood like that, Shin-chan. You weren't that far from winning." Takao consoled him.

"I still lost."

"Well, I guess it's hard to play with people you aren't familiar with. I noticed there were some coordination problems between the whole lot of you."

There was a second of silence before Midorima spoke again, and the words that came out of his mouth caught Takao completely unawares:

"I can't seem to receive passes from anyone else but you, Takao."

The Shuutoku point guard blinked at him several times before grinning and wrapping an arm around Midorima's shoulders.

"That sounded like a love confession, Shin-chan." he teased him, eliciting a well-expected reaction from his ace.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Midorima snapped at him as he slipped free from Takao. "As if I'd do such a thing here!"

"Quiet down, you two." Ootsubo ordered. "You look like an old married couple."

While Midorima looked offended by the last sentence, Takao chose to play his carefree-attitude card:

"Oh Captain, good job on defeating your own ace." he said.

"Instead of spouting nonsense, get ready for your own match." Ootsubo scolded him.

"Yes, yes, will do." Takao replied with a sigh.

Not far from there, Kagami had left his teammates to join Himuro in the Yosen group. Murasakibara couldn't decide on what the most annoying point was: that Kagami was monopolizing Himuro's attention, or that their whole conversation was in English and he couldn't get a damn word of it.

"Your Mirage Shot is still as amazing as ever, no matter how many times I see it."

"It wasn't enough to fool Akashi's eyes, unfortunately." Himuro sighed. "And Midorima's shooting skills kind of make me jealous."

"I've played you enough to know that you give me much more trouble than Midorima." Kagami replied, patting his brother's shoulder. The latter gave him a faint smile.

"I hope we get to play against each other soon. I want to see how big my little Taiga has grown."

"Hey, I'm taller than you, Tatsuya." Kagami groaned before wincing as Himuro ruffled his hair, just to annoy him.

Murasakibara was not happy. Why? He couldn't say for certain, yet one thing was sure: he didn't like the familiarity and the closeness between Kagami and Himuro, and he liked it even less when he heard Kagami used Himuro's first name. And what was Kagami doing here instead of being with his own team? Himuro belonged to Yosen High and Kagami belonged to Seirin High, therefore Kagami had nothing to do here. The equation was simple, at least in Murasakibara's point of view.

Something pressed in the hollow of his knee, interrupting his mathematical reasoning.

"Stop trying to kill them with your eyes and get ready, you're in the next match." Masako ordered, her stick in her hands.

Grunting and mumbling, the Yosen ace headed for the court with as much enthusiasm as a sloth that had just woken up.

"Atsushi, good luck!"

Turning round, Murasakibara saw Himuro waving at him. Oh well, it wouldn't hurt to put in some effort for this one time.

* * *

At lunch time, talks progressively shifted to the afternoon's hide-and-seek game.

"I'm definitely going to find you today, Kuroko." Kagami asserted, his mouth full of rice and beef.

"I'll be looking forward to it." Kuroko replied politely. "Would you like my share?" he asked, pushing his plate to Kagami.

"Oh thanks! You sure you don't want it? You hardly ate anything."

"I'm full, Kagami-kun."

"Tch, no wonder you're so short if you keep eating so little." the Seirin power forward said, though he gratefully took the extra food offered to him.

"And you eat so much it's a wonder you haven't exploded yet." Hyuuga noted. "Though I can't really complain since it was thanks to your bottomless stomach that we got free meat."

"Don't you ruin yourself with your food budget?" Koganei asked.

"He must be dirt rich, seeing how big his flat is and everything." Izuki said.

"And he lives alone in it. Damn rich kid."

"Hey, don't talk as if I can't hear you!" Kagami grunted.

"And he invites hot chicks into his bed too." Izuki went on. Those words didn't go unnoticed around the table as several players from the other schools suddenly paid great attention to the present conversation.

"So you're like that, huh, Kagami?" Aomine sneered.

"You're horrible, Kagamicchi." Kise commented, voice unusually cold and eyes filled with complacent pity.

"It's not like that!" Kagami protested, glaring at Izuki. "She's just–"

"And she's at least an E-cup." Koganei added fuel to the fire.

"I have to admit she looked very nice." Kiyoshi pondered innocently.

"She walks naked in Kagami's flat."

"She even kissed you in front of everyone. Shamelessly." Kuroko added calmly.

"Seriously?! Though I guess it must be normal for a returnee." Fukui said. "To get girls so easily and all, I mean."

"Stop making up weird things like that, seriously!" Kagami's rose as he was losing his temper, cheeks turning pink. "She's just–"

"Damn, I didn't know you were popular. Can you introduce her to me?" Moriyama asked, resulting in an accurate hit on the back of his head from his captain.

"Me too, I want to meet her!" Okamura pleaded.

"Nice girls don't go out with gorillas." Fukui countered immediately.

In less than a minute, the rather quiet meal turned as noisy as a kindergarten. Okamura was crying about Fukui's cruelty while Liu was vaguely trying to console him. Kasamatsu was lecturing Moriyama about his frivolity, using that opportunity to remind the rest of his team – which hardly listened – of how important it was to focus solely on basketball during this training camp; it wasn't every day that you were given the opportunity to play all the Generation of Miracles, you know? Aomine, Kise, Koganei and Izuki kept on pestering Kagami who could hardly defend himself, while Kuroko remained a silent onlooker.

"Did you do _that_ already?"Kise pressed at some point. "I'm sure you did."

"Well, if he brought girls back in his bed and kissed them, it can only be to do _that_." Wakamatsu said with contempt. "And he's a returned. I swear, kids nowadays don't have any morals anymore."

"So, did you?" Aomine smirked.

The question made Kagami turn crimson. "S-Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you all today?!" he flared up. "I'm trying to tell you, she's just–"

"Don't elude the question, Kagamicchi. We've already cornered you. See? Even your teammates abandoned you." Kise said, which wasn't entirely wrong as Izuki and Koganei had turned away in an attempt at hiding their fits of laughter. Hyuuga had given up trying to tell his team to stop teasing Kagami, and Kuroko was drinking his shake, looking unconcerned by all these events.

On the other side of the table, Momoi, the Shuutoku and Rakuzan players pretended everything was normal, except Takao and Mibuchi who seemed to find the scene very entertaining. Even Akashi didn't seem particularly bothered by the ruckus as he quietly finished his plate. The coaches were eating in a separate room – on the Touou's and Rakuzan's coaches request – and were therefore completely oblivious of the situation.

In the meantime, Kise was still trying to know if Kagami had done _that_ before, bringing the redhead's patience dangerously close to its limits. It required Himuro's intervention to save Kagami from his trial. He stood right behind Kagami's chair, crossing his arms and resting them on the power forward's head, adding to the latter's irritation, but Himuro cut him in before he could say anything:

"If anyone wanted to do _that_ with Taiga, I'd kill them before they could defile my little brother. I'd kill them slowly and painfully. No matter who they are." he said very coolly, and yet the charming smile he wore only served to creep the others out even more.

At that instant, they all understood that Himuro Tatsuya was extremely serious about protecting his little brother.

And somehow, it irked Murasakibara a bit.

It bothered Kuroko a bit as well, but for a different reason.

* * *

Afternoon announced the beginning of the second hide-and-seek game and another round of lament from Momoi who only wished she could join the fight. The game surprisingly didn't last long. Either the temperature was particularly high today, or Kuroko hadn't eaten properly to gather enough strength, but Aomine found him floating down the river, eyes closed, and for a second he feared the worst. As he dragged the small body back onto the shore, Kuroko's eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, Aomine-kun."

"Don't 'Oh' me, you idiot." the Touou ace grunted. "I thought you were dead or something."

"I'm sorry. It was so hot I needed to refresh myself in the river, and I think I fell asleep in the process."

Aomine stared at him dumbly before shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

"Whatever. Dry your clothes a bit, you're soaked." he said.

It was precisely when he was helping Kuroko remove his shirt that some rustles were heard.

"Aominecchi! You left me behind agai–!" Kise appeared from behind a bush before stopping dead. He narrowed his eyes. "May I know what the two of you are doing?"

"I fell asleep in the river so Aomine-kun is helping me dry my clothes." Kuroko explained as Aomine pulled the shirt off his head.

"You... fell asleep?" Kise repeated, incredulous. "Really?" Kuroko nodded. "So Aominecchi wasn't trying to do anything suspicious to you?"

A well-aimed shot resulted in Kuroko's wet shirt flying straight at Kise's face.

"Hey, what was that for?!" Kise protested, removing the shirt from his face angerly.

"You were saying something stupid, so it annoyed me." Aomine shrugged.

"Please refrain from throwing my belongings at other people, Aomine-kun."

"So, it means that Aominecchi found you first?" Kise asked reluctantly as he gave Kuroko his shirt back.

"Yes, I assume so."

"Let's go back, I wanna take a nap." Aomine yawned, pretending he didn't notice the death glare Kise shot at him.

* * *

Needless to say, Kagami couldn't be more frustrated on that evening.

"What the hell were you doing in the _river_?" he snapped at Kuroko who had come to bid good night to his teammates. "You could have drowned there!"

"I'll be more careful now, Kagami-kun."

"You'd better." Hyuuga said. "We don't want to end up with a corpse in the process."

"So tonight you get to be with your former Light, right?" Izuki inquired. "It should be OK, I suppose. Despite being an ass, I don't picture Aomine doing anything weird to you."

"He will most likely fall asleep as soon as he lies down." Kuroko nodded. "That is what he would do during our camps in middle school."

"Figured he was the lazy kind of guy. But he's still a monster in basketball despite being lazy, and that really pisses me off." Kagami greeted his teeth. "Damn, I wanna play him tomorrow. I'll definitely win."

"You seem less upset by the fact he caught Kuroko than you were for Takao yesterday." Kiyoshi noticed, to which Kagami scratched his cheek pensively.

"Well, I guess it's as Izuki said." he said slowly. "Though Aomine's a real bastard, I kind of... trust him when it comes to Kuroko, I suppose." It was obvious that the last words had required a lot of effort from Kagami to overcome his reluctance. Several eyebrows were cocked.

"I didn't expect that from you." Hyuuga said.

"Maybe you're actually growing up."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Kagami growled.

"I'm glad Kagami-kun trusts Aomine-kun." Kuroko said.

"Tch, well it doesn't change the fact he managed to catch you before me, and that pisses me off."

"Better luck next time." Izuki chuckled. "Besides, you like running, don't you?"

"That's not the point here!" Kagami growled.

"I am certain you will be able to catch me by the end of the week." Kuroko said. "Well then, I shall take my leave. Good night, everyone. Please take care of #2."

As an answer, the dog let out a happy bark, making Kagami jump and glare at him in fright.

"Will do!" Koganei replied. "We'll keep him out of Kagami's reach."

"As if I wanted him close to me!" the redhead retorted before turning to Kuroko: "Good night." he mumbled.

* * *

The night air was much cooler and much more comfortable than during day, Takao mused as he gazed absent-mindedly at the half moon above his head. At the back of the inn lay a small yard with some greenery, a pond and stone benches, and it was on one of those that Takao was currently seated on, next to Midorima. It wasn't really in his habits to get some fresh air at night; he'd rather be comfortably settled on his futon to rest his entire body – especially after today's fifteen kilometres of running on an empty stomach – but tonight was a bit special. Tonight, it was Midorima who had unexpectedly suggested they took a walk outside, supposedly because it was too noisy in the Shuutoku room. Takao knew him well enough to know it was a mere excuse, though he had no idea what was on the mind of his team's ace.

There was no denying the faint nervousness that was slowly gaining him, particularly with the silence surrounding him. He decided to break it:

"Too bad I didn't catch Kuroko today, huh?"

"Hm."

"And tomorrow we'll have to run even more."

"Hm."

"…Sorry, I guess you didn't call me out here to talk."

That seemed to trigger some sort of reaction from Midorima.

"No, it's not that. I mean, yes, it is. I do want to talk." he said with an uncertainty in his tone which Takao had rarely heard. On closer observation, he noticed that Midorima looked rather tense, or perhaps was it only the strain of the day. And was it his imagination or the ace's cheeks seemed redder than usual? And he was definitely avoiding his gaze, wasn't he?

"I'm listening." Takao said, now curious, but Midorima kept silent for a little while before speaking again:

"I suppose you remember this morning's… conversation, after my match." he said.

"Hm? The conversation?" Takao frowned for a second. "Oh! Yeah, a bit. What about it?"

"…"

"Shin-chan? What is it? Are you feeling sick?" Takao tilted his head on the side, but the question only resulted in the green-haired teen blushing even more as he readjusted the glasses on his nose – a habit that Takao knew served to hide Midorima's embarrassment.

Takao Kazunari wasn't one to be easily taken off guard, yet when the Shuutoku ace finally turned to Takao and opened his mouth, the words that came out of it made the point guard's eyes open wide. In spite of himself, he felt his pulse quicken dangerously fast and his throat suddenly felt unable to emit a single sound. No coherent thought could be formed in his brain at the moment; instead, his mind was trying to figure out whether he was dreaming, or had eaten some hallucinogenic food or anything similar. It was a joke, wasn't it? It had to be. But Midorima never made any joke.

Then what?

Takao wasn't certain how long he remained silent, but all this time Midorima's eyes hadn't left his. Turning back – with a bit of difficulty – to his usual self, he managed to pull out a smile:

"That sounded like a love confession, Shin-chan." he said, repeating the scene in the morning.

This time however, Midorima's reaction was different. He looked away, scarlet like never before, lips pursed slightly.

"Obviously." he declared dryly, though Takao knew better than to be fooled by his tone.

His hand reached Midorima's face, gently prompting him to look at him.

"You're supposed to kiss me now." he said, and for once his voice wasn't as full of confidence as he willed it to be, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he wasn't dreaming, that his ace was really standing in front of him, that his bandaged fingers were really touching his cheek and lifting his chin up, and that their lips really met, awkwardly yet pleasantly, sending chills down his spine and through his entire body.

When they parted, it could hardly be said who among the two was the most flushed.

"I never expected you to be the one making the first step." Takao finally said. Midorima didn't reply right away.

"I believed it would be more… conventional that way." he explained after a while.

"Conventional?" Takao cocked an eyebrow.

"Since I'm taller. Or something like that." If Takao thought Midorima couldn't turn more crimson, he was truly wrong. Slowly, a smirk crept on his face. So that was how it was, huh? Had Kuroko actually told him? Or had Midorima spied on him? Whichever it was, Takao didn't really care anymore.

Midorima suddenly turned round.

"Let's go back. We need to rest." he declared as he started walking back.

He didn't protest when Takao hurried after him and took his hand in his as they went back inside.

* * *

Aomine yawned loudly as he fell down on his futon with no grace at all, resting his head on his laced fingers. Kuroko was still reading the same magazine borrowed from Kagami, and only silence could be heard in the room for the next few minutes, until Aomine decided to start some sort of conversation with his former Shadow.

"Tetsu."

"Yes, Aomine-kun?"

"Is playing with Kagami fun?"

Kuroko turned his oval eyes to Aomine, closing his magazine.

"Yes, it is. Playing with everyone in Seirin is fun."

"…I see." The Touou power forward paused a moment before going on: "Is it more fun than Teiko?"

Kuroko seemed to ponder at the question. "I had a lot of fun playing with you all. Especially with you, Aomine-kun." The answer made Aomine snicker.

"I had fun playing with you too."

"Until all of you decided to become idiotically full of yourselves." Kuroko added placidly.

"Hey! All the others were so weak it was boring as hell!" Aomine protested, though he knew deep inside that Kuroko wasn't entirely wrong.

"Do you still think so now?"

Aomine clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Are you trying to rub our Winter Cup defeat in my face?"

"That wasn't my intention."

"Well, what can I say? Kagami was stronger. You were stronger." Aomined admitted reluctantly. "But that belongs to the past. Next time we face each other, I'll be much stronger, and I'll crush you."

"We'll get stronger than you then."

"Dream on."

"I believe in Kagami-kun."

"Tch." Aomine could easily understand why Seirin put so much confidence into Kagami, though he'd never admit it out loud. "He has yet to beat me in a one-on-one."

"Do you often play one-on-one with him?"

"It happens."

"How often?" Kuroko insisted, making Aomine cock an eyebrow.

"How should I know? Whenever he's free and I'm free. It's not like I count every time we see each other."

"So you do see each other."

"Well yeah, we d–Hey, why are you looking at me like that? It's creepy."

"You are seeing Kagami-kun without informing me."

"Hah? Why the hell should I inform you? Are you my mom or something?" Aomine grunted, but Kuroko was now staring hard as him, eyes undecipherable though Aomine highly doubted they reflected anything positive.

"What about Kise-kun?"

"What about him?"

"Why don't you play against him?"

"Oi Tetsu, do I need to remind you that he's not in Tokyo anymore?"

"He's not that far."

"Kagami's closer, that's all."

"Kise-kun enjoys playing with you a lot."

"I know that. What's your point?" Aomine snapped.

"He'd be devastated if he knew that you prefer playing with Kagami-kun rather than with him."

"It's not my fault if he chose to leave Tokyo, damn it! And that's not your concern what I do of my free time."

"It is not, but seeing Kise-kun abandoned by you breaks my heart." Kuroko said without a hint of emotion in his voice. Aomine sat up, irritated.

"I have a sudden urge to hit you, Tetsu. And maybe you need a pair of glasses, because I don't see Kise being abandoned anywhere."

Instead of replying, Kuroko searched his bag for his phone, then showed Aomine his inbox. Over half the messages were from Kise.

"From this morning: 'Aominecchi didn't answer me when I said hi'" Kuroko read. "From yesterday: 'Aominecchi said I'm annoying but I don't know what I did'. Two days ago: 'We've arrived. Are you there yet?'. 'Kurokocchi, are you still far?'. 'Is Aominecchi alright? He doesn't answer my messages'. 'I asked Aominecchi to teach me new moves, but he refused'. 'Yesterday Aominecchi told me he didn't want the latest magazine where I'm featured. He said to bring him gravures instead'. 'Aominecchi's so mean'. 'Aomi–'"

"Fine, fine, I got it!" Aomine cut him in, annoyed. "Damn, I didn't think he'd actually complain to you."

"That is because you don't pay him enough attention."

"What is he, some sort of pet I have to look after? Seriously Tetsu, gimme a break with that." Aomine grunted.

"He admires you a lot."

"Tch, I know."

"He likes you a lot, too."

"... I know." Aomine answered, looking suspiciously at Kuroko. How had the conversation turned like that?

"Aomine-kun, I think he lov–"

"I know, damn it! Do you think I'm that stupid?" the Touou ace snapped angrily. "I know it damn well!" The blank stare he received from Kuroko made him sigh in annoyance. "You've got to be damn blind or a lost cause not to notice it. And I'm not that much of an idiot, no matter what you may think." he said, cooling down.

"I have to admit I am a little bit surprised." Kuroko went on after a second of silence. "I had always believed you were slightly dense when it came to these matters."

"Tetsu, are you looking for a fight?" Aomine asked angrily, but Kuroko eluded the question with another:

"Why don't you give Kise-kun a proper answer?"

Aomine scratched his nape, brows furrowed. "Out of habit, I guess. I got used to him sticking to me like glue whenever he sees me, no matter how much I tell him to fuck off." He lay back on the futon in his initial position, gazing at the ceiling. "And because it's kinda fun, having someone chase after you like that."

"You are horrible, Aomine-kun." Kuroko stated with his usual calm tone.

"I am, aren't I?" The tanned player closed his eyes.

"How long do you plan to go on like this?"

No answer came.

"What if he gets tired of it and decides to move on with someone else? Kise-kun is very popular, after all. I believe I did see him kiss someone, once." For drama purposes, Kuroko chose not to reveal that the last sentence was an utter lie, of course. But he got the expected reaction from Aomine.

The latter's eyes snapped opened and he sat back up in shock, as if the possibility had never occurred to him.

"He wouldn't do that!" he exclaimed, suddenly slightly panicked. "He's too freaking stubborn to give up on me, that idiot! And I'd never let anyone lay a finger on him anyway!" Grabbing Kuroko by the collar, he went on: "The only one who can kiss him is me! That should be clear enough! I'll kill whoever dares touch him! Who was it? Tell me!"

There was a second of silence before Kuroko spoke: "I am not certain whether you are the worst kind of obnoxious person on Earth or a simply a complete idiot." he commented flatly. "I tend to think the latter, though."

"What?" Aomine frowned as he released Kuroko.

"Aomine-kun, please do realize that any normal person having heard what you said would have probably hit you by now."

Aomine twitched a bit at those words, then his face turned to a scowling one as he lay back down on the futon, turning his back to Kuroko like a kid who had just been punished. The Phantom Player took it as a signal that it was time to sleep, but as he was about to switch the lights off, he heard a mumble coming from Aomine.

"What is it, Aomine-kun?"

A mumble again, louder this time.

"I'm afraid I did not quite get that."

"I said, I'll admit I was an idiot, but just for this time, damn it!"

A faint smile graced Kuroko's lips.

"And you still haven't told me who the bastard who kissed Kise is."

"Please forget about it. It isn't very important."

"Like hell it isn't!"

"I'm turning off the light."

"Damn it, Tetsu!"

"Good night, Aomine-kun."

"... Good night."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Yeah, I like thinking that Aomine is plainly aware of Kise's interest for him and enjoys it diabolically. To all of AoKise fans, I hope this chapter was able to reassure you a bit! I welcome any opinion on the story so far!**


	4. Night 3: Candy Crash (Part 1)

**A/N: Too long a chapter, so I split the thing in two. Thank you all for your reviews! Again, to those asking for pairings I won't feature, sorry about that. Enjoy the read!**

* * *

**Candy Crash (Part 1)**

At 6.30 am on the next day, Aomine was already up, dressed and feeling particularly grumpy. The night hadn't given him many hours of sleep, mainly because the image of a certain blonde one _kissing_ some random strangers had kept popping up in his mind. It didn't matter how many times he repeated to himself that Kise was too infatuated with him to even consider giving up on him, Kuroko's words had managed to shake his foundations, even if just a bit. Heading for the breakfast room, he expected it to be empty but was soon proven wrong.

"Aominecchiiii, good morning!" Kise waved his hand at the Touou player as the latter stepped into room, mildly surprised.

Aomine dropped down on a chair next to Kise, yawning loudly.

"I didn't expect to see anyone." he said.

"It was too hot I couldn't sleep much, so I figured I might as well get up. Everyone else is still sleeping, though." Kise explained as he pushed a bowl of rice with fish and pickled vegetables to Aomine. "It's just you and me this morning!" he added happily.

"Hm, thanks." Aomine replied as he grabbed a pair of chopsticks. Of course Kise had picked only the vegetables which Aomine liked.

"How did it go with Kurokocchi?" Kise asked, and from the tone of it, the Touou player could easily guess that the question had been on the blonde's tongue for a while.

"Not bad. He doesn't snore so I could sleep pretty well." he answered. It was at that moment that a horrifying thought crossed his mind, but he called forth all his willpower to ask as nonchalantly as he could: "You didn't spy on us, this time?"

"Ah well... Let's say yesterday we got caught by Akashicchi, so I don't really want to risk it again. So, what did you talk about?"

"Curiosity kills the cat." Aomine replied, munching on the fish.

"Come on, tell me!"

"Nothing in particular. I fell asleep immediately." he lied, earning a pout from Kise.

"You're no fun at all."

Aomine shrugged as he shoved more food in his mouth. After swallowing everything, he went on:

"Say, Kise."

"Yes?"

"After the camp, what are you gonna do during summer?"

"During summer? Let's see... I think I have a few photo shoots then I'll leave to Okinawa with my parents for a week. How about you?"

"I'll stay in Tokyo."

"Isn't it going to be boring?"

"Not if you come play basketball with me."

Kise turned to Aomine, then blinked twice, and grinned. "I'll come!"

"One more thing."

"Yes?"

Aomine turned to him and for a second, Kise believed that the dark-haired teen was going to kill him. "W-What is it?" he stuttered, confused as for why Aomine's eyes would suddenly throw daggers at him like that.

"Who's the bastard who kissed you?"

There was no immediate answer as it required a few seconds for Kise to register the question. "Huh?" was the only thing he managed to let out as he tilted his head on the side, staring dumbly at Aomine who took on a pissed look.

"Tetsu told me there's someone who kissed you! So who is it?" he demanded. "I'll fucking kill that bastard!"

"Whaaat?! Why would Kurokocchi say such a thing?"

"Just answer the damn question!" Aomine ordered threateningly, bringing his face closer to Kise's.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Kise protested, flustered. "I've never kissed anyone!"

It was Aomine's turn to look surprised. "What?"

"I swear! I've never done that before!" Kise shook his head frantically. "I know it sounds surprising with me being a model and all but I swear I've never ever–"

"But Tetsu said–"

"I don't know why Kurokocchi said that, but that's not true! You're the only person I want to kiss so that'd make you the bastard but–" Kise stopped dead, covering his mouth with one hand and turning pale at the words he'd accidentally let out. "I-I mean... it was a joke of course, hahaha..." he added hurriedly, but Aomine's next reaction completely caught him by surprise.

His brain was working very slowly today, probably because it was still early. His eyes remained wide open for several long seconds while his synapses were desperately trying to interpret what Aomine was doing to him. His body seemed to have understood it already, given how his heart had started racing uncontrollably and his arms had already moved up to lace themselves around Aomine's neck. And he soon thanked the gods that the room was empty as he slowly closed his eyes to savour his first kiss with the Touou bastard.

With _his_ Touou bastard.

* * *

At 7.30, all the seats of the breakfast room were filled, and though three intensive and exhausting days had already passed, no tiredness seemed to show on the high schoolers' faces. On the contrary, most of them were wolfing down an impressive amount of food to build up their supplies of energy for the day. In the Shuutoku corner, Midorima was as usual listening to Oha Asa's daily horoscope.

"Today's lucky sign is... Scorpio!" the feminine radio voice announced happily, making Takao grin.

"Oho! So today is supposed to be a good day for me then!" the point guard noted. He turned to Miyaji. "You're a Scorpio too, right?"

The latter shrugged. "I don't really care about stuff like that."

Next to them, the Seirin players were also listening.

"Hey, I'm a Scorpio too." Izuki joined in. "Maybe I'll be able to catch Kuroko today."

"Dream on." Takao replied with a smirk. "We've got twenty kilometres to run today, no way I'm going to let you find him first. Who else is a Scorpio here?"

"I am." Furihata answered timidly.

"That's some competition we have today." Kimura commented.

"What's today's lucky item for us?" Takao inquired.

"You'd have heard it if you weren't so busy talking." Midorima replied.

"Oh come on Shin-chan, tell us already!" the Shuutoku point guard clung on to his ace's arm, much to the latter's annoyance. "Wait, no. Just tell me after breakfast, OK?"

"Hey that's not fair!" Izuki protested.

"The lucky item is a peach-flavoured candy." Midorima said, earning a pout from Takao.

"Shin-chan, that wasn't very nice of you. As punishment, I won't give you your morning kiss tomorrow."

The sentence triggered various reactions around the table: a few starts, some chokes, stares and an absolutely offended – though in Takao's opinion, still adorable – expression on Midorima's face. His mouth was opened as if to say something, but nothing would come out, and Takao didn't know whether it was embarrassment or anger that prevented his ace from getting any word out.

"T-Takao!" Midorima finally managed to stutter, sounding as outraged as he could be.

"What is it, Shin-chan?" the point guard grinned innocently.

"Seriously, you two, stop acting like a married couple or something!" Ootsubo reprimanded them.

"So it was a joke, wasn't it?" Furihata said, relieved.

"Hm? A joke? Whatever makes you believe that?" Takao cocked an eyebrow before letting outan 'ouch!' as Ootsubo whacked him on the head.

"I feel like watching Kasamatsu and Kise." Izuki laughed. "Midorima, you must have it quite hard with Takao."

"...I've known worse." the Shuutoku ace answered curtly, though the death glare he gave Takao was an ominous sign.

"Aaaaw, is it your way of saying you actually adore me?" Takao completely ignored the flames coming from Midorima's eyes, eliciting another round of chuckles and offended looks.

"Seriously, stop that." Ootsubo said, exasperated. "At least not in front of the other schools. They're going to get weird ideas about you."

"Anyway! Back to the main topic." Izuki interrupted the conversation, much to Midorima's relief. "We need peach-flavoured candies."

"Well, a candy shouldn't be very hard to find." Takao looked around him. "I don't usually eat candies but I'm sure someone here must have some. Oh."

The same thought apparently crossed everyone's mind as half a dozen pairs of eyes shifted to the Yosen corner, and more particularly to a certain purple-haired giant who was lifelessly munching on a grilled fish, unaware of the sudden increase of attention to his personage.

"May I recommend you to reconsider this option?" a soft voice intervened. All faces turned to where it came from, namely from Kuroko.

"What do you mean?" Koganei jumped in.

"I am quite certain that Murasakibara-kun will never hand over even one candy, let alone four." Kuroko explained.

"We can steal them." Takao suggested.

"Hmph, if you have a death wish, then feel free to try." Midorima said dryly.

"Is he that terrifying?" Miyaji frowned. "I mean, sure he's tall and big and all, but seriously, he's got so many sweets I'm having cavities just watching him eat. Surely he can part with some."

"When we were still in middle school, Aomine-kun once tried to steal some crisps from Murasakibara-kun." Kuroko spoke again before making a dramatic pause.

"And?" Izuki urged on.

"We were ready to hold funerals for Aomine-kun."

"You're kidding!" Furihata exclaimed.

"Yes, I am." Kuroko nodded. "In fact, Akashi-kun intervened in time right before Murasakibara-kun was about to crush Aomine-kun's head."

"Shin-chan, is that true?" Takao asked to Midorima who nodded.

"I would not have depicted it like that, but it's globally the idea, yes."

"Scary..." Izuki sighed. "But we can at least try to ask him? He wouldn't dare do anything violent here, especially with the coaches around and all."

"Yeah, let's go ask him." Takao nodded as he stood up, imitated by Takao and – though a bit hesitantly – Furihata. Miyaji chose not to care.

As the small group left, Midorima turned off the radio – in a mild mood as Cancers ranked eighth today.

"Perhaps we should have insisted that it isn't a good idea." he addressed Kuroko.

"Akashi-kun is there, so I don't think there should be a problem. Besides, it should be amusing to watch." the blue-haired teen added coolly.

"You're actually a devil." Miyaji commented.

"Thank you, Miyaji-senpai." Kuroko nodded.

"That wasn't a compliment!"

"Well, let's see how it goes over there." Kimura said.

There wasn't any surprise at the beginning. From the look of it, the three Scorpios had asked Murasakibara for one of his precious candies, first resulting in the Yosen ace to stare at them as if they were completely insane. It was when he realized that they were perfectly sane that Murasakibara's eyes suddenly narrowed in suspicion, murderous flames starting to dance in them.

"It's coming." Midorima said.

Contrary to Kuroko's predictions, it wasn't Akashi who kept Murasakibara in check, but Himuro. And he did it surprisingly easily, Kuroko noted mentally. A mere pat on the arm and a smile from the Yosen shooting guard had been enough to cool his ace down.

"I expected a bit more of action." Koganei said, visibly disappointed. "Though that Himuro guy is quite impressive. He almost looks too cool."

"He's always been like that." Kagami joined in as he heard Himuro's name. "In the US he was always the coolest-looking guy. He still is, I guess."

"He must be damn popular with girls." Kimura observed.

"Yeah, he totally is." Kagami laughed. "Back in the US, most of the girls who came to our matches only did so for Tatsuya."

"Aren't you jealous?"

"Huh? About the girls, you mean? To be honest, not really. I never really cared about that." Kagami answered as he shoved a generous portion of rice and egg in his mouth. "I was more jealous of his basketball skills, actually. Still am."

"But you're stronger than him, now."

"I don't know, I'm pretty sure one-on-ones with him would give me a damn hard time." Out of reflex, Kagami's hand reached for the ring that hung around his neck. "But that's what's fun in basketball! Right, Kuroko?" he grinned at the shorter player who nodded with a smile.

"Ah, the heroes are coming back!" Koganei pointed at Izuki, Furihata and Takao. The latter let out a loud sigh as he dropped back on his chair.

"I take it your attempt was an utter failure." Midorima said posedly.

"No need to put it so harshly, Shin-chan. But yeah, it's as you said."

"That's incredible. The guy must have kilos of sweets in his bag and he doesn't even want to part with three." It was Izuki's turn to sigh.

"And here I thought Midorima was the only one to believe in this horoscope crap." Miyaji snickered, earning a glare from the Shuutoku ace.

"Well, I've never believed in it, but it could have been fun to try." Izuki shrugged. "But man, I thought for a second that Murasakibara was going to kill us or something."

"Yeah, I don't know how that Himuro guy managed to tame him like that." Takao pondered.

"Maybe he gives him candies?" Furihata suggested.

"That's possible. Anyway, we should hurry up and finish our breakfast. Training starts in half an hour."

* * *

The first announcement of the day – and the one everyone was waiting impatiently for – was the teams' formations and the matches. The first match triggered obvious interest from both the coaches and the players, and bets were already being made.

"This is going to be quite a match, I believe." Harasawa commented as the ten first players stepped onto the court.

"What's your forecast on the results?" Masako asked. The Touou coach seemed to ponder for a moment before shaking his head.

"A few months ago, I wouldn't have questioned Aomine's victory, but given who he is facing now... Momoi, your opinion?"

The pink-haired girl tapped her notebook with the tip of her pencil, mentally analyzing the situation in front of her.

"Individually speaking, Kagami's stats are slightly lower than Dai-chan's." she finally said. "But he has already shown us that he can become much stronger during a match. At this point, even I can't predict anything."

"But you certainly did come up with a nice combination for this first match." Riko noted, watching as Kasamatsu was explaining his strategies to his team, namely Aomine, Mibuchi, Miyaji and Kiyoshi. Needless to say, Aomine was much more focused on how to crush Kagami than on Kasamatsu's speech.

On the other side of the court, it was Imayoshi who was detailing his devilish schemes to destroy the other team to Kagami, Murasakibara, Hayama and Nakamura.

"So, one Generation of Miracles and two Uncrowned Kings on one side, and one Generation of Miracles, one Uncrowned King and Kagami on the other side." Harasawa counted.

"Seirin's number 10 could easily be called a Generation of Miracles." Takeuchi noted.

"That's true. He could probably have been one, had he gone to Teiko." Momoi nodded. "It would have been very beneficial for Dai-chan too, having another power forward to rival with."

"It doesn't matter what title you give the players." Riko said. "What matters is their talent. Now let's see them demonstrate it."

The match was short – two quarters instead of four – but it was as intense as it was short. Aomine and Kagami entered the Zone right off the bat, setting the pace of the match to their own. This time however, they couldn't afford ignoring the other players, due to the presence of Mibuchi, Kiyoshi, Murasakibara and Hayama. The first basket went to Kagami, after he managed to successfully block Aomine's dunk. Both power forwards glared at each other before taking their positions, eyes leaving trails of blue and red.

"It's hardly been ten seconds of game and there's already a damn pressure." Wakamatsu pointed out, eyes not leaving the court.

"Those two are real monsters." Susa muttered. "I'm almost glad one of them is in our team."

"They aren't the only monsters on the court." Ootsubo said, turning his attention to Murasakibara who was standing under the basket.

"I'm surprised he didn't try to block Aomine." Takao commented.

"That's because he knew Taiga would do the job." Himuro answered, earning several cocked eyebrows from the other players.

"You mean that Murasakibara actually trusts Kagami even though they've never played together?" the Shuutoku centre asked, but Himuro shook his head with a faint chuckle while the other Yosen players snorted at the question.

"He's just damn lazy." They all answered in unison, making the other high schoolers sweatdrop.

"It's not even an official match, so knowing Atsushi, he will only provide the minimum required effort to win."

"And to avoid being hit by the coach." Fukui added.

"That's a rather… peculiar way to train." Takao observed.

"Well, given who he's facing, I'm pretty sure Atsushi will get serious very soon." Himuro said.

"Yeah, it's a damn good team they're facing." Susa nodded.

"Yes, but I meant Kiyoshi more than the whole team, actually. Atsushi still has a grudge against him, especially after the Winter Cup. Even now, when I mention Seirin, he starts getting murderous intents towards Kiyoshi."

"He's even more childish than I believed." Wakamatsu said.

"Aren't we all?" Himuro smiled. "But I admit Atsushi is a level above."

Takao turned to Midorima: "Was he like that in middle school too?"

"Naturally. It was quite annoying. That, and his habit of eating whenever he could, even during practice."

"Poor Shin-chan, it must have been hard on you, having to play with such a lazy guy." Takao teased Midorima, leaning towards him and ruffling his hair. The green-haired teen jumped slightly, but merely clicked his tongue of annoyance instead of brushing the hand away. His cheeks were slightly pink, Takao noticed with amusement. He really looked forward to having some time alone with his ace, to tease him more, and maybe a few other things too.

The match went on, and true to Himuro's prediction, it didn't take long before Murasakibara switched to offence and charged straight at Kiyoshi.

"You're unusually hot-headed today." the Seirin centre noted with a smile as he prepared to block Murasakibara.

"I'll crush you here and now." The latter threatened with his naturally lazy voice.

"Let's have some fun, then!" Kiyoshi grinned.

Murasakibara flared up at the last sentence and dribbled past Kiyoshi at an unsuspected speed for his imposing stature. In less than half a second, he was in the air and ready to dunk the ball. However, it wasn't only Kiyoshi he found on his way, but also Aomine. What happened next lasted only a few seconds and it required trained eyes to clearly see the action.

The ball was blocked by Aomine before it could be slammed through the hoop, and caught by Kiyoshi's Vice Claw before being passed to Kasamatsu. At least, that was what everyone believed before realizing that Kagami had stolen the ball from the Kaijou captain and was already heading back to the basket.

"As if I'd let you!" Aomine shouted as he rushed to Kagami. The latter feinted once, then twice and three times, but it wasn't enough to fool Aomine who grabbed the ball and rushed to the other side of the court, where Murasakibara was already waiting for him.

"Hayama! Nakamura!" Imayoshi called his teammates who quickly stood into a three-man defence cell against Aomine.

"Tch, you should know better, _captain_." Aomine smirked, jumping backwards and throwing the ball in such a carefree manner it was almost illegal.

It would have gone in if it weren't for the wall that was Murasakibara. However, something unexpected happened: Miyaji had managed to sneak behind the Yosen giant and stole the ball before passing to Mibuchi who finally scored a three, earning a shout of victory from his team.

"Wow! That was totally amazing!" Moriyama whistled.

"As expected from a match with so many Generation of Miracles and Uncrowned Kings! That was a damn show!" Hayakawa roared with clear excitement.

"Hah! Good job, Mibuchi!" Nebuya nodded with satisfaction.

"Aominecchi looked so cool there! And Kagamicchi too, and Murasakibaracchi, but Aominecchi was the best!" Kise exclaimed with sparkles in his eyes.

"You sound like one of your own fangirls, Kise. Creepy." Moriyama said.

"But but but, it's Aominecchi! Look at him feint! And look at him dunk! And look at him–"

"I think everyone here got the idea, Ryouta." Akashi suddenly spoke, and though his voice was composed as usual, it made Kise freeze on the spot.

"Ah… Sorry, Akashicchi, I got a bit carried away." he apologized. Akashi accepted the apology with a single nod.

"I think Kagami-kun looks better, in fact." came a voice from nowhere, making everyone jump.

"Kurokocchi! You were there!" Kise turned his head to the left, where all the Seirin players were.

"I was there all the time." the Phantom Player answered almost mechanically.

"What do you mean, Kagamicchi looks better? Obviously Aominecchi's much cooler."

"Kagami-kun scored first, and Aomine-kun's last shot was blocked."

"Still, Aominecchi's formless shots are much more awesome!"

"Will you stop it, the two of you?" Hyuuga snapped dryly. "They both look great so focus on the match already." When both Kise's and Kuroko's eyes turned to stare at him eerily, he frowned: "What?"

"You just said you think Aominecchi and Kagamicchi look great." Kise repeated coldly.

"Would you happen to have some sort of interest in them, Hyuuga-senpain?" Kuroko asked calmly, but there was something in his tone that was particularly frightening.

"That was just to make you shut your traps! I really don't care how they look." Hyuuga retorted, more and more irritated.

"Seriously guys, can you just shut up and watch the match?" Fukui intervened. "You can argue later if you want."

That, added with the looks of warning they received from the coaches – and Akashi's overwhelming presence, was enough to prompt them to silence.

Izuki leant towards Kuroko and whispered: "That was unexpected from you."

"What is, Izuki-kun?"

"Well, you suddenly blurting out that Kagami looks better and all."

"I was only stating the truth."

"That's still unexpected from you. I figured you'd be more inclined to defend Aomine, with him being your first Light and all."

"But Kagami-kun is my current Light. He matters more."

"That almost sounded cute."

"Woah look there! Murasakibara has entered the Zone too!" Hayakawa pointed at the Yosen ace who was surrounded by the same stifling aura as Aomine and Kagami, and his eyes were now blazing purple.

"Damn, I hope those three won't destroy the court or something." Takao said, looking impressed. "I'm almost glad I'm not playing right now."

"It's already something to have both Kagami and Aomine in the Zone at the same time, but now with Murasakibara, it's going to be a damn show." Koganei commented, hardly concealing his obvious excitement for the match.

"I kind of pity the others, though. They almost feel like spectators themselves." Fukui pointed out, eliciting a few nods of approval around him.

"Well, that was to be expected with such a match-up." Takao said. "Though I wouldn't underestimate the Uncrowned Kings either. Especially your Iron Heart." he added, turning to the Seirin players.

"Don't call him that, he hates it." Hyuuga muttered as his eyes landed on Kiyoshi.

"He seems to have fun, as always." Susa noted. "I don't know how he does that with those monsters around."

"We've known worse." Hyuuga merely replied, suddenly remembering a painful encounter with Teiko.

"Mibuchi and Hayama look like they're enjoying themselves too, actually." Moriyama said. "Ooh, nice pass, captain!" he exclaimed as Kasamatsu had just passed to Aomine who scored immediately after.

"Yes! That's Aominecchi for you!" Kise exclaimed. "Aominecchiiiii! Good job!" he waved at the Touou player who hardly deigned glance at him before focusing back on the match. That made Kise pull an incredibly long face, and he looked like he was about to cry.

"You're lucky the captain is playing, otherwise he'd have hit you for yelling like that." Moriyama said.

"It's quite impressive, though. Aomine managed to score despite having Murasakibara and Kagami against him." Liu observed.

"Is it me or are those two fighting?" Izuki cocked an eyebrow.

On the court, Kagami and Murasakibara were indeed arguing about something, most likely due to the latest failure at blocking Aomine. Instead of stopping them, Imayoshi and Hayama seemed to find the scene particularly funny, while Nakamura merely sighed, shaking his head. Even Masako – who was the referee for this match – looked quite cautious while trying to cool them down. You never knew what two boys in the Zone and who were almost twice your height could do, after all.

"You got in the way." Murasakibara said threateningly.

"No, you did." Kagami countered. "It's my job to stop Aomine."

"It's my job to defend the basket."

"He dunked right under your nose!"

"Because you were in the way!"

"I wasn't!"

"You were!"

They glared at each other, eyes sending daggers and cannonballs, and it was all the more frightening as they were still in the Zone. The pressure on the court increased tenfold, and some could have sworn the ground was shaking as the two aces were challenging each other.

On the benches, Himuro was watching the scene with obvious amusement – and he was probably the only one. Okamura frowned.

"Even the coach seems to be having some troubles with those two."

"I don't blame her." Himuro smiled.

"Maybe it'd be nice to ask Akashi to do something?" Fukui whispered to Nebuya, but the latter shrugged.

"He's not a babysitter."

"How did you manage to get Murasakibara to listen to you?" Izuki asked Himuro.

"I'm often asked that, and to be honest, I really don't know. My natural charm, maybe?" Himuro joked.

"Then perhaps you could try using it now before those two kill each other." Okamura sneered, not expecting Himuro to actually take it seriously.

"I suppose I could try." He stood up. "Taiga! Atsushi!" he called out. "Good luck on working together!" he said with a bright smile.

Both Kagami and Murasakibara turned their heads upon hearing their respective name, and like a magic spell, they put the argument on hold – albeit reluctantly.

"I'll make an exception for you, but that's only because Tatsuya wants it." Kagami grunted. "You'd better not get in my way again, though."

"I'd have crushed your head already if it weren't for Muro-chin." Murasakibara retorted back.

In the audience, the other high schoolers were staring in disbelief at Himuro, who didn't seem to realize that he had just performed some sort of miracle, that is to say taming two monsters with a mere – though dazzling – smile.

"What the hell was with that refreshing smile?" Hyuuga twitched.

"Yeah, way too refreshing." Fukui agreed.

"He could get both men and women at his feet with that kind of smile." Takao joked.

"I think you have some competition here, Kise." Moriyama patted his teammate's shoulder with sympathy. The latter pouted.

"What do you mean? I can be very refreshing too!"

"So that's how you do things, huh?" Izuki addressed Himuro with a hint of admiration. The Yosen shooting guard looked more and more confused.

"W-Well, Taiga and Atsushi aren't that hard to deal with. They'll listen to you if you just ask nicely." he defended himself, blushing slightly.

"Like how we nicely asked Murasakibara for a candy this morning?" Takao sneered.

"Or like how we nicely ask Kagami to get along with our dog?" Izuki added.

"That's a different matter. Taiga can't stand dogs and Atsushi is very protective of his snacks." Himuro explained. "But for anything else, you can ask them and they'll do it."

"You sound very close to them, calling them by their first names and all." Susa pointed out, which made Himuro chuckle.

"I suppose I do. Ah, the match resumed." he swiftly moved the focus from him to the court.

Even though it was a mere practice match, the atmosphere on the court and the benches was that of official NBA finals. As soon as a team scored, the other team would take the points back. There was hardly any break between every action, and it was a wonder how the players were still able to stand at some point. Whenever Kagami managed a dunk, Aomine would pay him back a second later. Whenever Kiyoshi managed to defend the basket, Murasakibara would make sure to slam the ball in next time. In the end, it was Imayoshi's team which won, by a tiny point scored at the last second.

"That was one hell of a match!" Riko clapped her hands.

"And I was able to collect some excellent data." Momoi nodded. "Aaah but Dai-chan doesn't look happy." she chuckled.

Indeed, it was with the sulkiest expression on his face that he snatched the towel offered by Kise, while swearing to beat the crap out of Kagami later.

"You did amazingly well, Aominecchi!" Kise attempted to cheer him up. "Here, have some water!"

"Like fuck I did." the Touou power forward snarled as he grabbed the bottle of water without even a thanks and gulped it down. Wiping his mouth, he frowned at the bottle: "Hey, that's not my bottle."

Kise shook his head with a grin. "It's mine!"

"Why the fuck did you give me yours?"

The question made Kise flush and look away, like the shyest of girls. "W-Well, you know!" he stuttered while concealing his embarrassment with a smile. It only made Aomine raise an eyebrow.

"No, I don't." he snapped, annoyed.

"I believe it is what they call an 'indirect kiss'." Kuroko suddenly popped out of nowhere. Naturally, the two other players jumped, but were far too used to that kind of situation to even say anything about it. Instead, Kise only sank himself in a deeper shade of crimson while Aomine stared alternatively at him and Kuroko, with a dumb look on his face. Then he clicked his tongue:

"Tch, are you stupid?" he grunted, flicking Kise's forehead. "Why the fuck would you want an indirect kiss when you can get a direct one?"

"A-Aominecchi!"

"You are very shameless, Aomine-kun. But please refrain from doing anything indecent here." Kuroko said, which made Aomine pop a vein.

"Tetsu, shut up or I'll seriously hit you."

"Please do not hit me. I need to be in shape for this afternoon's game. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm part of the next match."

"Whatever." Aomine rolled his eyes with exasperation while Kise was chuckling silently.

A bit farther away, Himuro was patting Murasakibara's head.

"Congratulations on your victory, Atsushi." he said.

"It was nothing." the giant answered unemotionally; at least it was the impression he wanted to give off, but Himuro knew better than that.

"I'm glad to see you worked well with Taiga."

The name made Murasakibara twitch. "I don't work well with him. I just did so because you asked me to."

"Still, good job. And you got your revenge on Kiyoshi, didn't you?"

"Hmm." the Yosen centre gave a small nod before clenching his fists. "But he still looks ridiculously happy, even though he just lost. It pisses me off."

"Don't mind it, Atsushi." Himuro laughed. "Come on, let's go sit with the others."

"Ah, Muro-chin, wait."

"What is it?"

Murasakibara fumbled in his bag and produced a small candy from it. And to Himuro's utter astonishment, he handed it to him. It seemed so unreal that Himuro didn't react at first, until his teammate shoved it in his hand.

"For you." he said uselessly.

Himuro immediately put his hand on Murasakibara's forehead, panicked for a second. "Atsushi, are you feeling well? Do you have a heatstroke?"

"No. Why?"

"Well, because you just gave me a candy, and I didn't even ask for one."

But the purple-haired teen merely shrugged and walked to the benches where the rest of his team was. Himuro looked at the candy in the palm of his hand.

It was peach-flavoured.

* * *

By the time the hide-and-seek game started, a few light gray clouds had started covering the sky, but there was no sign of raining, and it would add a touch of coolness to the hot days.

"Kuroko, seriously, tell me where you're gonna hide today." Kagami said.

"That would be cheating, Kagami-kun." Kuroko replied politely. "Though I admit I would very appreciate it if you could find me."

"Why him?" Koganei pouted. "Contrary to us, Kagami actually likes running. Right, Mitobe?" he asked his neighbour who nodded.

Kuroko shook his head. "It isn't about running. I only meant that I wouldn't mind spending a night with Kagami-kun."

Koganei choked at those words while Mitobe looked mildly surprised, and Kagami... well Kagami had taken a step back in shock and his face was red as a tomato.

"D-Don't put it like that, idiot!" he managed to stutter. "That sounded weird, that totally sounded weird!"

"But it is the truth." Kuroko replied, impassive, which didn't help Kagami take his composure back.

"Geez, just get ready for the game anyway!" the Seirin power forward snapped, glaring at his other teammates who were hardly trying to stifle their laughs. "Shut the hell up! You know Kuroko's a weirdo anyway!" he snarled at them.

"Well then, the 'weirdo' will take his leave." Kuroko said, and from his neutral tone it was impossible to tell whether he was offended or not.

"Ah, good job, Kagami. Now you've pissed him."

"Huh? No, wait! I didn't mean that!" Kagami called after his Shadow, but the latter had already gone to Riko, who would soon give him the signal to go and hide. Kagami scratched his head with a sigh: "Guess I'll have to apologize later."

"I hope it's not gonna rain soon." Izuki raised his head, looking at the clouded sky. "I thought the weather forecast said it'd be sunny all week long."

"I won't say no to a bit of coolness." Kiyoshi said happily. "Especially after this morning's match."

"Murasakibara really got to you, huh?" Izuki patted his shoulder.

"I guess without you guys around, I can't really beat him." Kiyoshi laughed.

"Ah! The game's started!" Koganei interrupted them. The whistle was blown a first time, and all the players watched attentively as a baby-blue-haired figure sank into the forest.

"Let's see who's going to find him today." Riko said.

"I'm surprised Akashi hasn't found him yet." Takeuchi commented. "Since it was his idea, I thought he had some plans in mind. What do you think, Shirogane?"

The Rakuzan coach shook his head. "What goes through his head is beyond my understanding. I'm not even certain at this stage that he had any plan, which is... most surprising."

Three minutes passed, and Riko gave the signal for the high schoolers to begin the hunt.

"They seem more into it than the other days." Masako noticed.

"It's not as hot today, so it could be why. Or they just don't want to run twenty kilometres." Momoi answered before sighing loudly. "I wish I could take part to this and find my Tet-chan first, though. That's so unfair."

"Stop complaining every day, Momoi." Harasawa scolded her, which earned him another sigh from the girl.

Meanwhile, in the forest, the search was as active as ever. Except for a few people. Aomine yawned, hands stuffed in his pockets, looking not in the least in a hurry.

"Aren't you going to try and find Kurokocchi today?" Kise asked, one arm tightly wrapped around Aomine's.

"Too lazy." the latter shrugged. "But no one's forbidding you from searching for him."

"Too lazy? You'll have to run twenty kilometres today if you don't find him, you know."

"I'll skip mid-way or something."

"You can't do that!"

"Why, you'll tell on me?"

"No, but that's still cheating!"

"I don't care, I'm not a leg-addict like Kagami. And by the way, let go of my arm, it's too hot."

"Eeh? But it's cooler today." Kise retorted, gripping Aomine's arm even tighter. "Besides, now that we're going out, you'll have to get used to it."

"Tch, you were already damn clingy even before. That's annoying."

With a sullen face, the Kaijou ace reluctantly let go of Aomine's arm, head lowered and a frown of discontent creasing his forehead. Noticing it, Aomine rolled his eyes, grabbed the blonde teen's chin and covered his pouty lips with his own. When he pulled back, Kise's cheeks had warmed up considerably and his eyes refused to meet Aomine's.

"W-What's with you all of a sudden?" he stammered.

"Hah? Do I need a reason?"

"Well, n-no but..."

"Say, Kise. What do you wanna do now?" Aomine asked with obvious indifference to the blonde's troubled state.

"W-What do you mean?" Kise flushed even more.

"I'm asking you what you wanna do now. I said I'm not going after Tetsu because it's too much of a pain. But that doesn't mean you have to stick with me."

"Eeh? Of course I'm sticking with you! I mean, sure I want to catch Kurokocchi, b-but I'd rather stay with you after all." The last part of the sentence was but a vague mumble.

"Hm? What was that?" Aomine smirked. Teasing Kise had always been one of his favourite hobbies. "I didn't quite get the last part."

"I-I said, I'd rather stay with you after all, you stupid Aominecchi!" Kise repeated, flushed.

"Who are you calling 'stupid', dumbass!" Aomine snapped back before clicking his tongue. A quick glance showed him that the said dumbass was half-sulking again. "Anyway, if we're not going after Tetsu, we might as well find something to do to kill time."

"And what do you suggest?" Kise asked grumpily.

"Hmm, no idea." the power forward replied with a tone that suggested he had in fact quite a good idea.

The predatory smile he gave Kise as he suddenly pinned him against a tree and ran his tongue over his lips was proof enough.

* * *

Kuroko's misdirection was working well. He felt slightly disappointed though when the whole Seirin team passed him by without seeing him. Perhaps he blended naturally well with the large rock he was seated on? He watched Kagami's back getting farther and farther away from him and sighed mentally. Really, what an unreliable Light he had. Was he that useless when a match wasn't involved? Kuroko sighed again.

"Bakagami-kun." he murmured, more as a stated fact than a reproach.

"I know how you feel, Kuroko. My little brother can be such a handful, at times." a sympathizing voice rose behind him.

Looking down the rock, Kuroko saw Himuro smiling at him.

"It looks like we have a winner."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Part 2 is coming... as soon as possible? XD**


	5. Night 3: Candy Crash (Part 2)

**A/N: Long chapters are getting longer... Hope you enjoy this one!**

* * *

**Candy Crash (Part 2)**

"How on earth did you manage to find him, Tatsuya?" Kagami growled with obvious discontent as everyone gathered in front of the inn to prepare for running.

"I guess I was lucky?" Himuro smiled innocently. He patted his brother's shoulder. "Have fun running, Taiga."

"Muro-chin." a lazy voice called him out. Himuro turned around.

"What is it, Atsushi?"

"Thank me." the Yosen centre demanded.

"What for?"

"The candy."

"What cand–Oh, that one! Didn't I already thank you?"

Murasakibara shook his head and mumbled something, making Himuro tilt his head on the side.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear you." the latter said apologetically.

Another mumble, but this time Himuro was able to catch the words "Scorpio" and "lucky item" and his face lit up in understanding.

"Oh! That's right. There were some people who came to you for that this morning, right? Though how did you know I'm a Scorpio?"

A shrug.

"Seriously, it amazes me how you can stand being with a guy who can hardly talk." Kagami sneered.

"Hah? You said something, shitty-eyebrows?" Murasakibara glared at Kagami threateningly.

"How the hell did you call me?"

"Alright, alright. Stop it, the both of you." Himuro walked in between the two boys. He turned to Kagami. "Taiga, don't provoke Atsushi." Then to Murasakibara. "And Atsushi, don't call him that, OK?"

Both aces grumpily nodded before deciding to ignore each other. Noticing it, Himuro let out a small sigh, but there was clear amusement painted on his face. He patted Murasakibara's hair.

"Thank you for the lucky item, Atsushi."

The whole scene hadn't gone unnoticed. Not far from them, a few high schoolers were staring incredulously at Himuro.

"Seriously, no matter how many times I see it, I just can't get how he manages to get Murasakibara to listen to him." Fukui shook his head.

"Yeah, remember the match earlier?" Moriyama reminded them.

"I'm not even sure who the scariest is: Himuro or Murasakibara." Hyuuga said.

"I agree." Takao nodded. "Anyway, that put aside, I guess we should get ready to run? Man, it's going to take two hours to run twenty kilometres. I hope it starts raining now. Maybe the coaches will cancel the thing if it does."

"Well, that's not impossible." Izuki looked upwards. The clouds were darker and more numerous now, concealing the sunrays and offering a respite to the smothering heat. "Let's just hope they won't have us run under the rain. What are we waiting for, by the way? If we have to run two hours, we'd better start now."

"The coaches seem to be talking about something." Miyaji joined the conversation. "Apparently not all of us have come back."

"Hmmm Kuroko's over there so that's not him." Hyuuga said.

"It's Aomine and Kise." Takao and Izuki said in unison before glancing at each other and grinning. Takao raised his hand to Izuki.

"High five for the Eagle Eye!" he said, grinning.

"And for the Hawk Eye!" Izuki returned the gesture.

"What are they, newly found bros are something?" Miyaji deadpanned.

"In any case, Aomine and Kise? What are those two doing?" Hyuuga frowned, looking at the Touou and Kaijou teams. They seemed to have no more clues on where their respective aces had vanished to, but no one looked really worried.

"There aren't any wolves in this forest anyway, right?" Moriyama inquired, to which Kasamatsu shrugged.

"When that idiot comes back, I'll freaking rub his face on the ground." the captain replied. "That'll teach him to be late."

"I think Kise better had been eaten by wolves rather than even thinking of coming back here." Moriyama whispered to Nakamura who nodded in approval.

"Aomine's probably fallen asleep somewhere, that bastard." Wakamatsu grunted. "Seriously, I hate him."

"I'm sorry I didn't keep an eye on him! I'm so sorry!" Sakurai inevitably apologized, bowing several times to his teammates. Wakamatsu hit him on the head.

"Stop that, seriously! You're as annoying as Aomine!" he snarled.

"I'm sorry for being alive!"

"There, there. Let's all calm down a bit now, shall we?" Imayoshi intervened. "I doubt nothing serious happened to those two, they're big boys."

"Yeah, they'll probably be back soon. They'd better be. I don't want to finish running late." Susa added.

Another ten minutes passed, during which most high schoolers were getting impatient, and the coaches had already agreed on having them start running instead of waiting any longer.

"I'll go look for Ki-chan and Dai-chan." Momoi offered.

"I'll go with you." Harasawa nodded.

"I think that won't be necessary." Riko said, pointing her finger at the entrance of the forest where two easily recognizable figures could be seen walking out, not hurrying in the least.

"About damn time." Kasamatsu muttered while some other players also expressed their annoyance.

"Is it me or does Kise look a bit... weird?" Takao cocked an eyebrow.

"Did they fight or something?" Izuki frowned. "Their clothes look kind of messy."

"I doubt it. But Kise does seem kinda strange." Kagami said. "Maybe he hurt himself or something, and Aomine helped him."

By now Momoi had strode to the pair and was lecturing them; Aomine was hardly listening, and Kise… well, Kise was merely staring at his feet, cheeks painted with visible pink.

"What were you two doing, seriously? The game ended half an hour ago!" the pink-haired girl scolded them.

"Gimme a break, Satsuki. We got lost." Aomine answered, not caring the least bit.

"As if I'd believe something like that! And why are your clothes damp?"

The question triggered an unexpected reaction from Kise: he blushed deeply while staring even more intensely at his feet. Noticing it, Aomine smirked and shrugged:

"We kinda dirtied our shirts, so we just cleaned them in the river a bit." But Momoi wasn't listening anymore, having shifted her attention to the Kaijou player. She covered his forehead with her hand:

"Ki-chan, what's wrong? Do you have a fever? You're all red! You shouldn't wear damp clothes like that, even if it's hot outs–"

Something wet fell on her nose, making her wince. The next second, several drops of rain were hitting the ground and it only took a minute for it to turn into a generous downpour, prompting everyone to quickly take shelter inside the inn. Outside, the sky had darkened considerably in the blink of an eye.

Riko pulled a face. "That wasn't in the plans. I'm pretty sure the weather forecast said there'd be no rain this week."

"It's not always accurate. Let's hope it cools down soon." Harasawa said. "Too bad there isn't a gymnasium for indoor training."

"We can make them run twice as much tomorrow, to make up for today." Masako suggested. "Though I suppose that would be a bit too much, even for them." she added, gazing at the crowd of players.

"If it were only light rain, running would still be doable." Riko muttered. At the very same moment, a flash of light accompanied by a loud rumble blinded everyone. "Damn storm."

"For now, let's wait and see if it stops raining." Momoi said, though she sounded unconvinced herself.

The weather was still the same after half an hour; the six coaches decreed that it was useless waiting any longer, and it was too dark anyway to consider going out. The announcement that the day was over was welcomed with a few cheers and whistles, though there were a few – Kagami, notably – who ranted about it. The drawback was that the players would have to prepare dinner themselves, and those who couldn't cook would have to wash the dishes.

"For once I managed to catch Kuroko, I don't even get to enjoy the whole lot of you running." Himuro sighed.

"That's cunning of you, Muro-chin." Murasakibara said, a cracker in his mouth. "What are you going to do now? There are still two hours before dinner."

"Before we have to prepare dinner, you mean. The hot baths, I guess."

"Hmmm then I'll go with you."

* * *

"Satsuki, a word if you please." There were only two people who called her by her first name, and since this voice didn't belong to Aomine...

"Hm? What is it?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"I'd like to know what Furihata Kouki's favourite dish is."

Momoi looked surprised for a second, then a knowing smile slowly drew on her lips.

"Let me check." she said, flipping through the pages of her self-made encyclopaedia. "Furihata... here. It's oyakodon."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome!" Momoi grinned. "Good luck!"

* * *

A constant hubbub could be heard in the baths for men, like every evening. Fortunately enough, there were three large pools and the steamy place was therefore not too cramped. While some were simply lazing in the hot water, some others were floating in the middle of a pool, only to be sunk by a teammate, resulting in water being splashed and captains yelling to bring back some order.

The pool shared by Yosen and Rakuzan was unsurprisingly the quietest, and the presence of Akashi there was probably one of the reasons why. The latter was chest-deep into the water, arms crossed and back against the edge of the pool, eyes closed as if meditating. He didn't seem bothered by Hayama who was poking, nudging and patting Mayuzumi to make him react somehow, or by Mibuchi who was constantly teasing and playing with Nebuya in very ambiguous ways. On the other side of the pool, the Yosen players shared mitigated points of view at such open displays of male-bonding. Fukui obviously found the scene very amusing and was trying to tease Liu in the same way, but the small forward remained stoical and impassive, though a few twitches showed that he'd rather be left alone.

"Stop acting like an idiot!" Okamura ordered Fukui who grinned maliciously.

"Why? Does it bother you when I touch another guy like this?" he asked back, sliding a finger down Liu's cheek who glared at him:

"Could you please stop this now, senpai?"

"Oh come on, you're not fun. See, if I do this to Himuro..." He started reaching for his teammate's face but before his finger could even graze his skin, a hand surged out from nowhere and held Fukui's wrist tightly. Very tightly. And the shadow looming over him and hiding everything from his view belonged to none other than Murasakibara. Though he wasn't in the Zone, his eyes gleamed in an eerie way. By now Akashi had opened his eyes and was observing the scene with attention.

"Wow, cool down here! I was kidding." Fukui said, too used to Murasakibara's presence to be afraid.

"Atsushi, it's OK." Himuro intervened, resting a hand over Murasakibara's for the latter to release Fukui. "Besides, I don't really mind." he chuckled.

"Well, you should." Murasakibara mumbled almost inaudibly as he sat back next to Himuro, sulking.

"Atsushi." His first name was called again, but not by Himuro. Murasakibara raised bored eyes to Akashi. "Politeness requires you to apologize to the one you hurt." he merely said, making the purple-haired teen scowl even more, but the latter still turned to Fukui:

"Sorry." he muttered.

"I guess I should deem myself lucky to have the two only people who can tame Murasakibara here." Fukui grinned as Himuro patted the giant's head as a reward for apologizing.

"Oh by the way, I've wanted to ask you," Mibuchi suddenly addressed Himuro. "That ring you wear, I saw Kagami wearing the same. Are they perhaps engagement rings?" he asked with pointed interest.

Everyone in the pool but Akashi and Himuro pulled out funny expressions ranging from vague curiosity to utter surprise. Though strictly speaking, Murasakibara belonged more to the 'angry' category. Himuro laughed and shook his head:

"Not at all. I bought those rings for us when we were in the US, as a sign that we're brothers."

"Ooh? That sounds cute. You must cherish it a lot, since you wear it even in the baths."

"I'm used to keeping it all the time on me, and even more after a little incident that happened during the Winter Cup." Himuro replied.

"An incident?"

"Let's say I acted a bit like an idiot at that time." Himuro said as he gazed at the pool next to him where the Seirin players were. "But it's fine now. I got back my little Taiga." he added with a soft smile.

A sudden splash was heard, and the next second Murasakibara was out of the pool, knotting a towel around his waist and visibly not happy.

"Atsushi?" Himuro frowned.

"Going back to the room." Murasakibara mumbled unhappily.

"What's with you all of a sudden?" Fukui inquired.

"Leave him be." Akashi said quietly.

Himuro let out a faint sigh, though his lips were still curled up in a smiled as he watched his ace's tall and perfectly-built figure walk away.

"I swear, that guy's a handful. Worse than a kid." Fukui complained, to which Mibuchi chuckled. "What?"

"Oh, I just find your cluelessness about others' feelings very cute." the effeminate man answered. "It's almost adorable."

"Reo-nee, can you stop hitting on every guy you see? It doesn't give you a good image." Hayama teased him, making Fukui freeze on the spot despite the water's high temperature.

"Just kidding~" Mibuchi winked at Fukui who didn't feel less reassured at all. "I think I already mentioned it, but I'm already interested in someone in my team." he added cheerfully.

"Reo, I believe our friends here had enough of hearing about your personal life." Akashi said composedly yet firmly.

"Aw, and I was getting to the good part." the shooting guard complained, pretending to be upset.

"So, what about Murasakibara?" Fukui asked again.

"Don't mind him. He probably just needs more sugar." Okamura shrugged. "I swear, that guy's a real weirdo."

"I guess I'll go check on him." Himuro said as he readied to exit the pool as well.

"Oh come on!" Fukui exclaimed, exasperated. "For once we actually get to lazy around here, you'd prefer going after him?"

But Himuro gave him an apologetic smile and excused himself from the party. As he headed out, he walked past the Seirin pool and what he saw made him smile ever so slightly. Had he been more devilish, he'd have probably teased Taiga a bit, but right now Atsushi was more important. He therefore left the baths, already looking forward to the little chat he would have with Kuroko tonight.

Meanwhile, in the aforementioned pool – also shared with Shuutoku High – the cause of Kagami's torment and Himuro's amusement – namely Kuroko – shifted a bit closer to his Light. It wasn't the first time they went to public baths together, but today Kagami felt more uncomfortable than usual, though he couldn't tell why. Kuroko was right next to him and conversing with the others very normally, but since the beginning Kagami had noticed that the space between them had progressively narrowed down to the point their arms almost touched. The pool was big enough, even with a dozen people in it, so why was he so close to him? He thanked the steam and the temperature for giving him an excuse to his flushed cheeks, without really getting why Kuroko's closeness bothered him so much.

"Kagami-kun, you look unwell. Is something the matter?" Kuroko suddenly turned to him, and the gesture made his shoulder brush Kagami's arm. The redhead nervously jumped sideways, earning a few curious looks.

"Are you upset that you didn't get to run?" Koganei joked.

"Such devotion to training is commendable." Takao nodded.

"As expected from a basketball idiot." Izuki added, making Kagami flare up.

"Hey, I'm not a basketball idiot! And I'm totally fine not having to run today." he retorted.

"But as a result, we have to make dinner ourselves today." Miyaji sighed.

"As long as we don't let Riko in charge, we should be fine." Kiyoshi said, getting vigorous nods of approval.

"Or Momoi." Midorima added. More nods.

"Do we know who's in charge of dinner?" Ootsubo inquired.

"I personally don't want to risk anyone's life so I'll stick to washing the dishes." Takao said.

"Mitobe, you'll make us something, right? You're a pro at cooking!" Koganei patted his friend's arm enthusiastically. The silent Seirin player nodded, smiling with modesty.

"I believe Kagami-kun could also take part. I would very much appreciate eating something made by you again." Kuroko stated, directing his large, oval eyes at Kagami who quickly looked away, embarrassed.

"I-I suppose I can do something, yeah." he answered, praying to all the gods that no one would notice his quickening pulse.

"My favourite food is vanilla shake."

That seemed to bring Kagami back to his usual state. "How the hell is that even food?!" he snapped. "At least pick something that you eat for a meal!"

"I sometimes have a vanilla shake for dinner."

"Honestly..." Kagami sighed.

"Can you make me kimchi?" Takao asked.

"Coffee jelly for me!" Izuki joined in.

"Ah then, I'll have some dorayaki." Kiyoshi said.

"I can settle with red bean soup." Midorima said.

"And–"

"Wait just a second here!" Kagami interrupted them, veins popping out. "This isn't a restaurant! And most likely the ingredients were already bought, so we'll have to do with what we have! If you want kimchi or whatever, just buy it on your own!"

"Bakagami, shut up! You're too loud." a well-known voice drawled in the pool farther behind him. "And while you're at it, make me some teriyaki burger for dinner."

Kagami turned round, pissed as ever. "Ahomine! You can die a hundred times before I make you anything!"

In the third pool, Aomine shrugged. "Guess I'll have to ask Sakurai then. You'll do that for me, right?" he asked the poor shooting guard who almost cowered into a corner of the pool.

"Yes, I will! I'm so sorry I didn't think about it before!"

"Aominecchi, stop picking on your teammates like that!" Kise scolded him, but it resulted in something the blonde teen didn't expect: Aomine swiftly shifted closer to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder; and as he spoke again, Kise could feel his breath on his cheek:

"Then do you want me to pick on you instead?" Aomined smirked as Kise's face turned bright red.

"A-Aominecchi..."

"Hm?"

"GET AWAY!" Kise suddenly shoved him aside with unsuspected strength before sinking himself deep into the water so that only the top half of his head was out. The bubbles that popped at the surface indicated that Kise had mumbled something, and a safe guess would be to assume it was something close to 'Aominecchi you idiot'.

Pretending that nothing happened, Imayoshi went on casually:

"They have a point though. Who's going to make the food?"

"I guess it'll be volunteering. If you don't cook, you wash the dishes. Fair enough." Kasamatsu replied.

"What will you do?"

"Hm? I guess I'm not too bad at making food myself." the Kaijou captain answered.

"Oh? Then you're better than our captain." Aomine intervened, poking Kise's head which was still half buried underwater. Then without any warning, he pushed the blonde's head down and released him, laughing at the newly found prank.

All naturally, Kise came out of the water utterly pissed.

"Aominecchi! That was dangerous! I could have swallowed water by accident and choke and die and–"

"I'd just have given you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation." Aomine shrugged, successfully turning Kise into the ripest tomato to have ever trod this land.

"Can you two stop acting like a couple already? That's disturbing." Moriyama commented.

"Who told you it's an act?" Aomine retorted with disdain. Several pairs of round eyes turned to him, then to Kise who now looked completely stunned.

"Hm, was it perhaps a joke?" Susa made a first attempt. Aomine snorted.

"I think Aomine isn't quite the kind of person who makes jokes." Imayoshi clarified the snort, but Kise jumped in, waving his arms in panic.

"O-Of course it's joke! Right, Aominecchi?"

"Hah? What the fuck are you spouting? Or is that your way of saying you wanna break up already? If it is, I'll freaking kill you." the tanned male snapped threateningly.

Kise's face turned pale. "I-I, huh, what? No! I mean, w-what...huh... Aaaah, damn it, Aominecchi!" At a loss for words, he sank himself once again – now entirely – underwater.

Aomine merely lay back against the pool, both elbows on the edge, not giving the least damn on the world.

It was how his relationship with Kise was made official to both their schools.

In the meantime and on a quite different note, the second pool wasn't less animated. Kagami was still trying to make clear that there was no way he was going to cook everyone's favourite food, though Kuroko's puppy eyes at some point almost made him flinch.

"That isn't very nice from you, Kagami-kun." the Phantom Player told him reproachfully. "You even addressed a death threat to Aomine-kun."

"I didn't!"

"Mitobe says to stop annoying Kagami, or he may try to poison us instead." Koganei said.

"I wouldn't do that either! OK, that's it. I'm out of it." Kagami snapped, standing up, but a small hand caught his arm.

"I am sorry, Kagami-kun. We teased you a bit too much. Please don't sulk and stay with us." Kuroko requested.

Ignoring the funny feeling in his arm, Kagami scowled and pursed his lips, hesitant.

"Kuroko's right, Kagami!" Kiyoshi grinned. "Let's have fun altogether!"

"... Fine. But we're not talking about cooking anymore." the Seirin power forward decreed.

"Then how about we talk about those girls in your bed?" Takao went on, but it was Midorima who silenced him:

"Takao, that's enough. Don't push your luck."

"Hm? You'll punish me if I do?" Takao smirked at the taller teen, moving closer to him and using that opportunity to stealthily slide his hand over Midorima's thigh. The gesture naturally made Midorima jump abruptly, earning himself a few questioning looks. Any movement to shove Takao away would raise suspicions and the promise of a painful death in his eyes didn't seem to be enough to discourage him, therefore he called forth all his willpower to breathe slower and bear with the demonic hand that roamed dangerously close to strategic places. He would kill him afterwards, far from prying eyes.

In the meantime and out of mercy for Kagami, topics of discussion had switched to more harmless ones, allowing everyone to finish the afternoon on a nice and relaxing note, until they were told it was time to start preparing food for dinner.

"Atsushi." Himuro called out softly, petting the purple hair of the figure lying next to h

* * *

im, back facing him.

No answer.

"Atsushi." Himuro called again.

A faint growl.

"That wasn't very nice of you, leaving everyone like that."

"Your fault."

Himuro sighed. "What did I do this time?"

"You talk too much about Kagami. It annoys me."

"About Taiga? Is that why you left the pool?"

No answer.

Himuro smiled, being used to this man child's whims. "Will you forgive me if I buy you some sweets once we're back home?"

"...For one week."

"Alrigh, for one week."

Murasakibara finally turned around, to meet with Himuro's smiling face, and somehow he felt his cheeks turn hotter than usual.

"Do you want to stay in the room until dinner?"

Murasakibara nodded. "It's raining outside anyway."

* * *

The menu was simple: rice with curry or grilled beef. Everyone was queuing to be served by Momoi or Riko – who was under close watch to make sure she didn't add anything funny to the plates. However, when Furihata's turn came, instead of asking him what he wanted, Momoi took a bowl on the table behind her and handed it to him with a broad grin:

"And a special dish for you!" she said.

"Huh? Why?" Furihata asked, confused.

"If I were you, I'd just trash the thing away." Susa advised him. "Unless you want to die."

Momoi puffed her cheeks. "That's mean! And I wasn't the one who cooked this!"

"Then who?" Furihata asked.

"It's a secret! Come on, just take it!"

"Hey it's unfair. Why is he the only one who gets to eat oyakodon? I want some too." Fukui protested.

"No complaining, or you don't get to eat anything at all!" Momoi answered, making the boy grunt.

In the Seirin corner of the table, Furihata asked:

"Kagami, is it you who made this?"

"Hm? Nope." the redhead replied, mouth full.

"Do you know who did?"

But Kagami shook his head. "All of us were busy making dinner for everyone, I didn't notice anyone preparing an oyakodon. How about you, Mitobe?"

The silent teen shook his head apologetically.

"Maybe someone prepared it beforehand." Koganei suggested. "But that's still strange."

"But it's delicious." Furihata commented. "And it's my favourite dish."

"Let's hope it's not poisoned." Izuki joked, but as Furihata turned pale, he added hurriedly: "Just kidding, just kidding!"

"Kagami-kun's cooking is still as good as ever." Kuroko said as he tasted the curry.

"Eh? It's nothing, and I wasn't the only one there." Kagami scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

"I wish I could get to eat Kagami-kun's dishes more often."

"It's nothing, really. I'm sure your mom makes better stuff."

"That is beside the point, Kagami-kun." Kuroko sighed.

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"What? Tell me."

"Nothing. Please forget what I said, Bakagami."

"What was the 'Bakagami' for?! What's with you, really..." Kagami scowled, but Kuroko remained silent. The power forward frowned. Well, whatever. Perhaps he should buy him a vanilla shake once back in Tokyo.

* * *

When Himuro slid the panel open, Kuroko was already in the room and talking to… a dog? Were pets even allowed here? He doubted it.

"Good evening, Kuroko." he greeted.

"Good evening, Himuro-san." Kuroko greeted back, shoving the dog back into his bag. Turning to Himuro, he added, pointing to the bag: "I would be very grateful if you could avoid mentioning this to anyone. Normally I leave him with the others, but last night he went to sleep next to Kagami-kun so tonight I have to take him with me."

Himuro smiled. "Poor Taiga. His aversion for dogs is legendary. Alright, I'll keep this a secret." he said, dropping his stuff next to his futon. A 'woof!' was heard, as if to thank him for keeping quiet. As he glanced back at the dog, Himuro frowned slightly; those eyes reminded him terribly of someone though he couldn't pinpoint who exactly. Then another glance at Kuroko made his brain click. "What's his name, by the way? Kuroko #2?" he joked.

"Actually, it's just #2." the blue-haired boy answered.

Himuro sweatdropped. "Seriously? Anyway, I'm getting changed here, I hope you don't mind."

"Please go ahead." Kuroko said, opening a magazine – borrowed from Kagami – as he always did every night.

"It seems like it hasn't stopped raining since this afternoon." Himuro commented as he stood by the window and undressed. The rain was battering loudly against the glass, blurring the landscape and making it impossible to distinguish anything outside. A bright flash of light blinded him, followed by a boisterous rumbling. "Let's hope it'll have cooled down by tomorrow."

"I was wondering something: is Kagami-kun afraid of thunder?" Kuroko asked.

"Taiga? No, not really. Though I do remember that time in the US when we were still kids; Taiga was at my place and we were playing video games when a storm broke out. The first lightning strike took him completely off guard and he literally jumped in my arms." the Yosen shooting guard narrated with an air of nonchalance, though his eyes were closely watching for Kuroko's reaction to his words.

He wasn't disappointed as the Phantom Player's ever placid face betrayed a faint yet completely noticeable twitch of the eyebrows.

"I see." Kuroko merely said, eyes not leaving his magazine. He wasn't given the opportunity to add anything more as a voice rose from the other side of the door:

"Muro-chin, I'm coming in." Without even waiting for an answer, Murasakibara opened the door. He was holding something in his hand.

"Anything wrong, Atsushi?" Himuro cocked an eyebrow as he finished slipping on a shirt.

"Here." the Yosen centre handed him the something which proved to be a can of soda.

"For me?"

Murasakibara nodded.

"Why, that is rare, but I appreciate it." Himuro smiled gently, taking the can. "Thank you."

"Good night." the latter mumbled before leaving.

"Good night, Atsushi."

When the door closed, Kuroko asked:

"Do you call everyone by their first name?" The question made Himuro chuckle.

"I'm often asked that here. The fact is, I'm pretty used to western habits and over there it's actually strange to call people by their last names. So back here it was a bit tough for me to switch back to Japanese customs. I try to stick to last names for people I'm not too close to. Would you like me to call you Tetsuya? It would put you on the same level as Taiga."

"…I don't mind."

"Then Tetsuya it is." Himuro answered, sitting down on the futon and opening the can with a pop. "Want some?"

"No, thank you."

"You know, I think you could try and call Taiga by his first name too. He would certainly appreciate it."

This time, Kuroko closed the magazine and looked at Himuro. The latter was displaying his usual poker face, making it quite hard for Kuroko to read through that mask of his. And it annoyed him mildly.

"You are very cunning, Himuro-san." he said expressionlessly. The shooting guard let out a short laugh.

"You're the second person to tell me that today. But I'm not sure I understand what you mean." he answered, visibly amused.

"Would you actually allow me to call Kagami-kun by his first name?"

Before Himuro could answer, a voice was heard again on the other side of the door:

"Muro-chin." Murasakibara stepped in uninvited, not caring the least bit about interrupting the conversation.

"What is it this time, Atsushi?" his teammate inquired with a patience that was known only to him.

"I thought you may be hungry." Murasakibara handed him what clearly looked like a small bag of potato chips.

"Thank you for your concern." Himuro took the bag and patted his ace's hair. "Try to get some sleep now for tomorrow, OK?"

"Hnnn, fine."

The door closed again, and Himuro let out a sigh, but the smile on his lips indicated that it wasn't a sigh of annoyance.

"Did you get along with Atsushi during middle school, Tetsuya?" he inquired.

Kuroko pondered for a second before answering: "I consider Murasakibara-kun a friend, but I was never able to agree with his view of basketball."

"I know all too well what you mean. He has incredible talent, and yet he demonstrates no passion. Though I believe he has changed since the Winter Cup."

"Indeed he has."

"Back to the topic at hand, I don't have any right to forbid you to call Taiga by his first name. He's the only one who can decide. But if it's you, I'm certain he will allow it."

"I see." Kuroko replied quietly, plunging back into his magazine. At least he tried too, but Himuro wasn't fooled so easily; he was treated with an extremely rare sight: Kuroko blushing, though very, very lightly, but unmistakably so. A mischievous smile graced the corners of Himuro's lips. He was going to have a little bit of fun.

"I have noticed it for the past few matches Seirin played, but the bond you share with Taiga is particularly strong, even for teammates." he said casually.

"... I made a promise to Kagami-kun to make him Japan's number one player, as his Shadow. It is for that purpose that we train together so much."

"Why did you choose him?"

"The first time I saw him play, it reminded me of my former teammates in Teikou. I was disappointed by them, but I thought I could try again with Kagami-kun."

"What if he disappointed you as well?"

"Do you not trust your own brother?" Kuroko asked back, but Himuro shook his head with a smile.

"I didn't mean it like that. But at the beginning, you had no idea how Taiga could turn out. What prompted you to try?"

"It is simple, really. Seirin has no potential to form a team of Generation of Miracles." As Himuro cocked an eyebrow, Kuroko went on: "When I first arrived at Seirin, I noticed that everyone there was good at basketball, but not excessively so. That is why I was certain that they could not disappoint me the same way Teikou did."

"They disappointed you because they were too good. You really are an interesting one, Tetsuya." Himuro chuckled. "But you wish for Taiga to become even better than the Generation of Miracles, as your team's ace."

"I do."

"Then all your hard work is just to fulfil your promise of making him Japan's number one player?"

"I believe that is what I said earlier."

"Which means that once you achieve your goal, you won't have anything to do with Taiga anymore?"

For a lapse of a second, Kuroko looked troubled by the question and narrowed his eyes.

"I am not certain I understand your point."

Himuro tilted his head on the side and gave a mysterious smile, his fingers suddenly playing with the ring he had deliberately let hanging outside his shirt in a clearly visible way.

"Simply that once Taiga becomes Japan's number one player, you won't have any reason to stick around him like you do now." he said.

There was a second of silence.

Everyone who knew Kuroko a bit would say that the teen was ordinarily the quiet, composed and even type of person. Only a restricted circle of people had had the opportunity to see Kuroko let that trademark composure of his fall, and Himuro was soon going to be part of that circle.

"Himuro-san." Kuroko said calmly, though one could sense definite coldness in his voice. "I consider Kagami-kun a fellow teammate, but also a dear friend. I believe it is a good reason enough to stick around him, as you say."

"A dear friend? Is that all he is to you?" Himuro pried, still smiling in a way which Kuroko found very uncomfortable.

"Are you perhaps implying something, Himuro-san?"

"Perhaps."

"Muro-chiiin." came a now very familiar voice from the door, followed by the faint rattle of wood against wood.

"Atsushi, I thought you would be asleep by now." Himuro said as he stood up and walked to the door. This time, Murasakibara handed him a small bag of candies.

"What's with you today?" Himuro asked gently. "I thought you didn't like sharing your food with anyone." In fact, he was certain that in his entire life, Murasakibara had never given so much food to one person within a single day.

"I thought you may be hungry." the purple-haired teen answered very unconvincingly.

"Atsushi…" Himuro held out his hand as if to take the sweets, but instead he reached for Murasakibara's cheek and did something quite unexpected: standing on the tip of his toes, he prompted Murasakibara to lean down and claimed his lips with his own.

It was a light, chaste kiss, almost innocent like a child's kiss, but long and sensual enough to leave no doubt as for its meaning. Even Atsushi should get it.

He did. When Himuro pulled back, the taller teen was uncharacteristically flushed, eyes completely avoiding Himuro and lips pursed as if to keep the kiss to himself. He looked incredibly and unconventionally adorable, Himuro thought as he petted Murasakibara's hair.

"I have a few things I'd like to discuss with Tetsuya tonight, so be a good boy and go back to your room. I promise tomorrow I'll come back too." he said.

Murasakibara's mind was most likely still confused with the what, the how, the why and the who, for it took him several seconds to register Himuro's words. He made a vague attempt at what seemed to be a nod, and got ready to leave, but as he did so, Himuro pulled him into another kiss before wishing him good night.

When the door closed behind him, he settled back on his futon, very aware of the pair of blue eyes following him.

"I'm sorry, I must have shocked you." he apologized.

"It is fine." Kuroko answered. "I didn't know you and Murasakibara-kun were together."

"In fact, we weren't." Himuro confessed. "I did this to make sure he wouldn't interrupt us anymore tonight." he joked before adding: "More seriously, I just thought it was more than time he stopped acting so half-baked towards me."

The Seirin player was under the impression that those words were somehow addressed to him, but it was probably only his imagination.

"Should I keep this a secret?" he asked.

"Do as you wish. I don't particularly plan to hide it or anything."

"It was very daring of you. What would have you done if Murasakibara-kun had reacted badly?"

"A common fear," Himuro admitted with a nod, "and an understandable one. But it shouldn't keep you from expressing your feelings. In my case, I know Atsushi well enough to be certain that he'd accept my feelings."

"I see."

"What about you, Tetsuya?" To Kuroko's questioning look, Himuro sighed: "I'm asking you if it is that fear you mentioned that prevents you from talking to Taiga."

"I do talk to Kagami-kun."

"You know it's not what I mean."

"Please do clarify."

"You like him, don't you?" Himuro asked bluntly, and no hint of a smile could be seen on his face.

"I believe that is none of your business."

"It is when it involves my little brother. I think I was clear enough yesterday when I said I'd kill anyone who'd dare touch him."

Kuroko fell silent for a moment before answering: "Himuro-san, whatever your point is, I would very much appreciate it if we could speak about something else. I dislike our current conversation."

The Yosen player gazed at him for a few seconds and burst out laughing. He ruffled Kuroko's hair, much to the latter's annoyance.

"I'm sorry, Tetsuya. It seems like I've teased you a bit too much. Forgive me. It's just that I've always found it amusing to play the role of an overprotective brother. Especially when it comes to Taiga." he said, still chuckling.

"This... was unexpected." Kuroko answered, though nothing in his expression betrayed his surprise.

"I'm sorry." Himuro apologized again. "In any case, I just want you to know that if you don't tell Taiga properly, he won't get it. He's too clueless."

"I know. But I'm fine with how things are."

"You're a good little liar." Himuro ruffled Kuroko's hair again. "But you know, as I said earlier, the fear of being rejected shouldn't prevent you from expressing your feelings."

"I do not recall ever admitting to such a fear." Kuroko retorted, mildly annoyed.

"Of course not, but it doesn't change the fact that you feel it, unconsciously or not."

"..."

Himuro lay down on the side, supporting his head with one hand. "I talk a lot with Taiga, be it through the phone or via text messages. I suppose you won't be surprised if I tell you that he mainly talks about basketball."

"That is indeed hardly surprising."

"What you probably ignore is that he mentions you a lot as well, as his fellow teammate and Shadow. But being the idiot he is, I'm sure he managed to convince himself that it's all you are to him; a teammate and his Shadow." Himuro let out a small sigh. "Tetsuya, you're the smarter of the two; don't wait for him to make the first step, or you may very well wait forever."

Kuroko didn't say anything for a while, merely gazing absently at the magazine between his hands. Then:

"Himuro-san."

"Yes?"

"Everything you have just told me is based on the assumption I like Kagami-kun."

"Indeed."

"Unless I am mistaken, not once have I admitted to such a thing."

Himuro seemed to find those words particularly amusing. "Then what? Will you deny it?"

"... I will not, but I'd like to know how you knew about it."

"Well, it's certainly true you've never been obvious about it. Call it a natural gift?"

"That is one frightening gift."

"Very useful, in fact. Especially to tease people like you. I suppose I could have nagged Takao and Midorima or Aomine and Kise as well, but I guess you beat me to it."

"Perhaps you could try with Akashi-kun and Furihata-kun."

"Akashi?" Himuro laughed. "No thank you, I still value my life. But I have to admit that until now, I still have doubts about them. I mean, the last person I expect Akashi to have his eyes on is Furihata, no offence to your teammate. Does Furihata even know?"

"I am certain he isn't aware of it. He seems irrationally terrified by Akashi-kun."

"I would say it's quite rational, actually..." Himuro sweatdropped.

"Himuro-san."

"Yes?"

"Do you think it rational to have your eyes on Murasakibara-kun?"

Himuro cocked an eyebrow. "What's with the sudden question?"

"I am simply pondering about your sense of rationality."

"Oh please, any sane person would be utterly terrified by a guy with psychotic eyes, who claims to be an emperor and can probably make the best NBA players kneel at his feet and cry."

"Any sane person would carefully avoid a 208 cm-tall guy built on muscles mainly who can probably smash your skull with a single hand." Kuroko replied equally. It made Himuro laugh again.

"Alright, point taken. But you know, most of the time Atsushi is just more like a big baby. I find the contrast quite cute, though I suppose it must look strange to other people." Himuro lay back on the futon and yawned.

"Perhaps we should go to sleep." Kuroko suggested.

"That'd be a good idea, indeed. That is, if that storm would allow us to get some sleep. The noise is annoying."

As if to match his words, lightning struck, making Himuro sigh.

"I shall turn off the light then." Kuroko said.

"Please do. Good night, Tetsuya."

"Good night, Himuro-san."

* * *

Unaware of the previous events, a silhouette watched the very same lightning strike that had made Himuro sigh. He was standing in the empty and hardly lit corridor, arms crossed and elbows resting on the edge of the window. At least he believed the corridor was empty. Too captivated by the sight of the storm raging outside, he completely failed to hear the light footsteps getting nearer, until a voice called out his name:

"Kouki, what are you doing here this late?"

Needless to say, Furihata jumped, quickly turning his head to the newcomer, and his blood froze. In front of him was none other than the Emperor, gazing at him with those heterochromatic eyes of his.

"I-I-I was just, uh, just watching the storm, I-I swear I wasn't doing anything suspicious! I'll go back to my room immediately!"

But Akashi merely raised an eyebrow. "The storm? Do you enjoy storms?"

"Ah... yes, I do." Furihata lowered his eyes, plainly aware that he must sound like a weirdo. While most people disliked storms, he actually loved them, though he would never tell the reason out loud; that would make him sound ridiculously pompous. But he liked the sight of the downpour on deserted and unanimated landscapes, and the brightness of thunder that illuminated his eyes every time lightning would sear the dark sky, and the sound of the storm roaring without care as if to say it was currently the master of the world. Storms were powerful, imposing, uncontrollable and majestic.

They reminded him of Akashi Seijuurou. Yes, he was exactly like storms, Furihata thought.

Unlike him, who was as normal, plain and unnoticeable as could be.

"You're not afraid of them, then?" Akashi interrupted his thoughts.

"N-No, I think they're very beautiful to watch."

It was where the comparison stopped. The big difference between storms and Akashi was that Furihata was very much afraid of the latter. And he didn't find him beautiful to watch. Maybe. Fragments of memories flashed through his mind, memories of games where Akashi played, dominating the court, ruling the game and bending to no one. Furihata shook his head mentally, not quite understanding the sudden and brief fascination he bore to the Rakuzan captain.

"That's a pity, then." the latter deplored.

"Why so?" Furihata asked carefully, slightly confused. He gulped when Akashi stepped closer to him, an eerie smile on his lips.

"You don't have to know that yet." he merely answered, which only served to increase Furihata's confusion.

Both teens stood there in awkward silence for several seconds until Furihata couldn't stand it anymore:

"Th-Then I'll go back to my room now. I'm sorry for disturbing you." he said with a short bow. However, as he was about to walk back, Akashi spoke again:

"Do you know how to play shogi?"

Taken off guard by the unexpected question, the Seirin point guard could only stare at Akashi for a second before shaking his head.

"Is that so. Too bad then."

"I-I learnt how to play chess, though." What had prompted him to say so, he had no idea, but for a split second, he had felt like he didn't want to disappoint Akashi. That seemed to work, for the latter showed clear interest.

"Chess? Then would you have a game with me?"

"N-now? With you?" Furihata asked dumbly.

"I'll understand if you'd rather go back to your room and rest. It is pretty late, after all."

"No, I mean... I'm sure I wouldn't be much of a challenge to you. Maybe you should ask someone else to–"

"I'm asking you, Kouki."

The use of his first name and the firm tone made him shiver again. Even without looking, he could feel Akashi's piercing gaze on him, and it only made him all the more nervous. What had he done to deserve this? He originally just wanted to enjoy some nice storm-gazing, and now was challenged to a chess match from none other than Akashi? Well, at least the game would end quickly, he thought bitterly.

"F-fine." he finally answered.

"Then let us go to the common room downstairs. It should be empty and there is a chess board there."

Surprisingly enough, the game wasn't wrapped up so quickly as Furihata believed. He found himself being so taken in that he almost forgot who it was he was facing. It was exactly like during a basketball match; if necessary, he was perfectly able to give it his all. In the end it was still his loss; he sighed as Akashi announced the checkmate. The outcome had been clear from the start.

"Kouki." Furihata raised his head to Akashi. "It was a good game." Akashi said.

"Please don't tease me. I'm a horrible player." Furihata sighed again.

"You are not. Actually you're quite talented. I had fun."

Perhaps Akashi was right, Furihata thought for a moment. He had often played chess against his father and his father's friends, and had always been told that, despite not being exceptionally extraordinary, he was still a tough match. His lack of self-confidence had always made him believe that those were mere words of kindness. But today, even Akashi had acknowledged him.

"Thank you." he murmured, genuinely pleased.

At that moment, he was graced with an unexpected sight: Akashi smiling. Oh, barely, but still visible and not one of those smiles which made chills run down your spine; no, it was a gentle smile, one which Furihata had never witnessed on Akashi.

"We should get some rest now." Akashi said as he stood up.

"Ah, yes, we should." Furihata answered, for lack of having anything else to say.

They walked silently back upstairs and reached the Seirin room first. When Furihata bowed, he heard Akashi say:

"Today was a good day. I got to learn three things about you." When Furihata raised confused eyes at him, he went on: "First, you like storms. Second, you are a good chess player. Third, you like oyakodon."

That said, Akashi left to his own room, leaving a befuddled Furihata behind him. It was only after a few seconds that the latter registered that there was something wrong in the count. Third... oyakodon? How did Akashi know that? He had only mentioned it to his teammates. And then an incredibly crazy idea crossed his mind. Could it be... the oyakodon he had had for lunch... but no, there was no way the great Akashi Seijuurou would actually _cook_ something for him. Especially for him.

Right?

That night, Furihata wasn't able to dismiss the memory of Akashi's smile, or the taste of the oyakodon.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**That's all for now! Thank you for still following this! I'm always happy to see you guys like the story :]**


End file.
